> "Here we show that non-native probiotics marketed as a beneficial medicine for honey bees have no effect on pathogen prevalence or the honey bee gu microbiome."

> This is on par with research that has shown that multi-vitamins for humans are essentially a waste of money. 

But this was not a "negative result" at all - the paper was clearly aimed at refuting and debunking pseudo-science and the "woo" surrounding pro-biotics in beekeeping.

The outcome was "as expected" for the authors.  The vitamin and mineral paper cited was much the same - an expected outcome from the point of view of the designer of the study.  An inconclusive paper would have been a "negative result" in this context.

But the probiotic research will likely fall upon deaf ears, as they ignored the fact more basic fact that, for example, prompts me, a very strict rationalist, to take a multivitamin every day, even when traveling. ***"It Can't Hurt."***

To calm my adoring wife's concerns, and maintain marital bliss, I take a daily and utterly superfluous "Mature Multivitamin", as newspaper reports periodically claim that aging results in deficiencies in this or that vitamin (I read something last week about magnesium).   Now, I have made my opinion very clear, as I take a permanent marker, and carefully add the letters "IM" to the beginning of the bottle label for the "Mature Multi-Vitamins".

But, I follow the approach of a friend of ours who plays baseball for the Mets -  "Why Not? It can't HURT, can it?".  Baseball players will do very silly things at times, such as the recent fad of wearing copper bracelets said to increase strength, and put "EMI Blocker Cases" on their phones to shield them from purported "damage" done by the radio wave "radiation", which are clearly non-ionizing forms of "RF band" frequencies, and a misuse of the scary term "radiation".  But, they correctly reason that they are making insanely good money to play a childhood game, and the cost of the item at issue is so small in comparison to the salary as to be essentially zero, so even if it merely MIGHT add a fraction of a percent to their batting average or some other metric by which they are evaluated, it is worthwhile to get one, and wear it, as it has zero downside for them, and if there is no upside, "no harm done".

The probiotics are much the same thing for beekeepers.  I get a lot of correspondence from beekeepers with burning questions stuck in their heads, and the most common questions translate to plain English as "what can I do to make my bees HAPPIER and HEALTHIER"?  They can take the dog for a run, they can pet the cat, and both can get a check-up at the vet, but the bees are an emotional enigma to them, and they WANT to do SOMETHING for their bees, as the bees are essentially "pets" for most hobby beekeepers.  So, the price paid for a bag of powder said to contain probiotics is negligible to the beekeeper, yet it meets a deep emotional need many beekeepers have to feel that they are "truly caring for their bees".  This is "animal husbandry" on steroids and coke, but this is where we are "as an industry" on the hobby side.

On the commercial side, one will see the same view as our ballplayer friend - it is something that can be integrated into existing operations, and the cost is low, and "It Can't Hurt, Can It?".  So, they buy it too.

So, was the probiotics paper "Money Well Spent"?  I'd say not at all, as it was a naïve effort.  It will not cause anyone who would buy probiotics to stop buying them, as recent years have proven that people are perfectly willing to say that "they disagree" with science, when the term they should use is "don't understand".   (This is the best part about working with things like neutrinos - the lay public has no opinion at all on them one way or the other, and anyone with an opinion had to do a massive about of reading to form one.)

So, the probiotics paper is another lone voice in the wilderness, crying out for rationality and rigor in one of the least rational and least rigorous endeavors man undertakes.  The authors will be resented by many beekeepers, who will ignore anything else they might say, as they FAILED to clearly say "But, it can't hurt", and give license to those who buy and use the stuff on purely emotional grounds.   When teaching and speaking, I stress setting aside the preconceived notions the beekeeper might have about he THINKS the bees need, and instead, examining the bees, and letting THEM tell you what they need.  But, as I have mentioned before, my wife still sings to her bees when working them, even though she knows that they do not hear well in the soprano frequency range.  

But, I persist in stressing that "the bees will tell you what they need". Exactly like using probiotics, my efforts in beekeeper education clearly and plainly ONLY MAKE ME FEEL BETTER, and they change nothing, not even for my own wife.  Well, it can't hurt, and "Even if I change ONE mind..."

The bee supply companies who are often the source of generous funding for research in beekeeping will not be happy in the least with the attempt to debunk probiotics.  Probiotics are such big sellers, there was even litigation over one catalog house buying probiotics in "55-pound drum size" via a beekeeper who was acting as a "front", and repackaging the probiotic into smaller 1-lb counterfeits of the manufacturer's packaging so as to make more profit. They reproduced the label perfectly, but they made two errors, first using the wrong color foil for the bags, and second, printing bogus batch numbers on the bags, a dead giveaway that the product being sold was in counterfeit packages.  An out-of-court settlement eventually resulted.

See " https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15801297/strong-microbials-inc-v-mann-lake-ltd/ " 

The bee catalog houses will likely quietly  advise the authors with a very relaxed and more toned-down version of the dressing down Arthur Jensen gave Howard Beale in the movie "Network" - "... and YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU WILL ATONE!"

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html