Gavin
 
Thanks for the comments about CCD and the U.K.  I'd much like to hear  from 
beekeepers in countries other than the U.S.
 
As per the neonicotinics like Imidacloprid, PSU is looking at them.  
 
I was involved in litigation in the U.S., looking at studies of these  
chemicals, beekeeper samples, etc.  
 
These new generation pesticides are in the U.S. and their use is  increasing. 
 More worrisome, they've gone from seed and soil applications  to direct 
spraying on crops like cotton.  However, CCD doesn't seem to play  out in quite 
the same as the French experience, and with 24 reporting states,  its a bit of a 
stretch to attribute all of this losses to these new  chemicals -- and if 
they are the cause, we should have seen it some years  ago.   
 
We certainly did see bee losses for at least 24 U.S. and Canadian  beekeepers 
over the last few years, but it didn't play out the same.   I had no problem 
representing beekeeper with bees on cotton and claim for  damages from these 
chemicals, when the chemical was in their bees, wax,  etc.  But, we don't have 
that specific fit with respect to CCD, unless PSU  suddenly finds some new 
evidence.  They have hints of this in some samples,  just as most samples have 
viruses, fungi, etc.
 
My opinion, just as its impossible to find bees without a trace of PCBs  
anywhere in the U.S., many pesticides used in the U.S. (new and old) show up in  
all bee samples -- but presence doesn't equal bee poisoning.  Could these  
chemicals be involved?  Yes.  Do we have sufficient evidence to  conclude this? No.
 
But it is being looked at.
 
Jerry
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