I wrote a letter to ABF inquiring about their stance on Aussie imports, here is the reply from David Mendes:



" The ABF Executive Director Robin Dahlen passed your email of January 15 on to me.   I share some of your concerns about Aussie packages and wish to inform you that both ABF and AHPA have resolutions opposing Autralian package importation.  We have joined forces with the California State Beekeepers Association to hire an attorney to present our concerns to APHIS.  I don't know how much you know about trade issues, but under WTO rules the US needs to "prove" that the Australian bees have some pest or pathogen that is not currently present in the US.   In order to successfully make this argument, the USDA must first conduct a pest and pathogen survey.  We have been petitioning APHIS for several years to implement this survey but they have argued that they can not accomplish this without the proper funding from Congress.  Just yesterday, we found out that money has been appropriated by Congress to fund this study.  My information is that about $610,000 has been allotted to survey bees in at least 13 states (the minimum number of states needed to be statistically significant).  ABF maintains a connection with a lobbyist firm in DC to monitor these actions.  We have an active legislative committee that works hard to accomplish the resolutions supported by our membership."....  

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