> So yes, what's in your thought bubble 
> could make the difference between 
> being prosecuted or not.

Yes, the issue of "intent" is confirmed to be decisive. This allows one to continue to ETHICALLY and LEGALLY operate at large scale with a far more benign substance than any "miticide", one actually listed as Organic in the EU, with apparently no possible risk of creating tolerance for the substance.

> recent between-the-lines suggestion on this List that beekeepers could act as scofflaws
> If we beekeepers feel that we can be pesticide outlaws,

So, despite no hint of "our industry" being "willing to put the effort and money into it", this kinder, gentler approach is slandered and disparaged as "scofflaw" and "outlaw"?

Did anyone stop using Oxalic in the timeframe before there was a registered product, or in the more recent period when there was no "registered product"?  Wasn't that being a "scofflaw" or "outlaw" by the same yardstick?

Two questions:

1)  Will "our industry" ever be "willing to put the effort and money into it"?

It's been 20 years since Marion Ellis first submitted high-quality data on Oxalic to the regulators.  "The Industry" is willing to free-ride on any effort, but has yet to even attempt to solicit contributions to fund any effort to clean up the paperwork.

2)  But why do beekeepers need to do anything? Will regulators ever realize that Oxalic Acid belongs on the GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) list?

Again, it's been 20 years, so I think the rainbows and unicorns aren't going to magically appear, nor is any bee club calling itself "national" going to suddenly start singing "Kum-ba-yah" on the issue.  Powdered sugar was advocated by the same voices that now wish to call others "scofflaw" or "outlaw", and using ANY substance (even water!) "as a pesticide" triggers all the same concerns expressed, so someone better 'splain to us how to tell one from the other.


 

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