I am having some difficulty reconciling these assertions with my
understanding of the facts. In the interests of accuracy, somebody please
correct me if Im misinformed:

In a message dated 8/31/00 6:37:53 AM, [log in to unmask] writes:

<< 3, Whatever damage Varroa was doing to the bees, during this time
(millions of years), it was not catastrophic...Otherwise there would be no
bees left after such a long timescale.

4, At some date around 1900 Varroa started to become a "nuisance" to
Mellifera strains of bee. >>

   Varroa is a parasite of A. cerana that, for most of the world, only
recently has jumped species to A. mellifera. The exception is that in some
isolated areas of Russia A. mellifera was introduced to varroa about 150
years ago, and has been acquiring resistance in those local populations
since. The recent release of Russian queens by the USDA is an attempt to
introduce the genetic material of that isolated population.

<<11, There is inertia and hostility from existing researchers and research
institutes because a simple fix like this will put some of them out of
business. I have information on this that I will not publish. (You should
use the grapevine...>>

I don't buy it. This is conspiracy theory stuff that makes no sense to me.
The damage varroa has done is as much a threat to pollination researchers and
research institutes  with expertise in A. mellifera as it is to beekeepers.
The only scientists who could possibly benefit from varroa are those with an
interest in pushing alternative pollinators. Though I do think that Bob's
idea to introduce A. cerana is an intriguing one, although one that carries
great risk.