>that allowing a colony to suffer
a fully-preventable slow and ugly death due to varroa/DWV is unethical.

>But to launch into some moral rant is to forget that we are talking about

Both are exactly right. Pete's experience with his neighbor demonstrates what is well known. That to try to change an emotionally held opinion with scientific fact is seldom successful.

I agree with Randy that to let a "fully preventable" malady kill a creature that we profess to care about is unethical.  

Staying away from the legal issue, how can a person say that we must or will treat for AFB and make treating for varroa a personal choice? Varroa is by far the greater killer world wide. 

Treating for AFB for many  (me included) requires destroying the colony and hive. Treating for varroa properly requires first sampleing to determine the level of infestation and in the case of alcohol wash means killing a lot of bees. In both cases we make the choice that we are sacrificing bees for the greater good of the whole. We are making a thoughtful choice based on science and logic. I take no pleasure in killing any life, even including mites and yellow jackets, cabbages for that matter,  but will do what needs to be done.

What it comes down to in my opinion is that both AFB and varroa (DFW) are highly communicably diseases that if left unchecked harm the whole community. That  makes treating the only responsible choice and maybe it should be the only legal choice. I know that that is not going to happen. As a thought experiment, what would  the reaction of TF's be if it were required to  manage for varroa as it is for AFB?

Gene, I did not intend to equate sugar and coumaphos only point out that both are chemicals and as I said some more benign then others. To repeat myself trying to change opinion with logic or fact is a fool's errand. Alas I am now officially an "elderly" fool. It is not lost on me the parallels of this thread and our national response to covid 19. 

Paul Hosticka
Dayton WA 

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