In the past, the negligible volume of miticides and antibiotics all of beekeeping has used, and the "specialty crops" nature of our food product has helped us to skirt the full attention of the EPA and FDA.  We don't want that much attention, in my view.

We should engage the "regulatory process" only through lobbyists who the elected officers of the national organizations employ.  This is what most any industry group does.  When we have a specific issue, we most often have a university-credentialed expert to make the case to the regulators, and sometimes that person is parroting what has been written by USDA ARS scientists, so we are simply quoting one branch of the federal government to another, which is a tough enough task to achieve, in itself.

Yes, it is annoying to be overlooked and ignored when we need their help, but they've never cut us any slack other than to agree that, in the grand scheme of things, all of beekeeping is a rounding error in any metric they might use.  We need their help far less often than we don’t need their regulatory boot on our necks.  Further, the EPA and FDA's impact does not only affect US beekeepers - Canada, for example has "Health Canada" which very often makes xerox copies of what the FDA and EPA publish, adding a Maple Leaf flag, and appending a French translation.

Nobody ever expects the Spanish Inquisition, so let's try and keep it that way.  To quote Joel Chandler Harris: "Brer Fox, he lay low..."

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