FYI to BEE-L,

Several friends who are with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture
& Consumer Services forwarded the two emails below, the first (10-7-2004)
is asking for advice from Andrew A. Thostenson of the NDSU Extension
Pesticide Program and the second is a press release from the North Dakota
Department of Agriculture (10-13-2004). It is the opinion of this writer
that this is the most severe misuse of pesticides that I have ever seen in
association with beekeeping and beekeepers. The potential problems could
be of severe consequences to our industry. I have heard of and have seen
the use of "Corral" and "Taktic" but sodium cyanide, water, and sulfuric
acid in a witches brew gives me the shivers and is surely a hot potato for
the press.  Forget chloramphenicol and nitrofurans for now and put them on
the back burner, this could really hurt our industry.

Chuck Norton
Norton's Nut & Honey Farm
Reidsville, NC



-------- Original Message -------- Subject:  Okay folks--North Dakota
Needs Some Advice We have a Situation
Date:  Thu, 7 Oct 2004 10:45:20 -0500
From:  "Andrew A. Thostenson" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To:  [log in to unmask]
Organization:  NDSU Extension Pesticide Program
To:  [log in to unmask]



This past Friday, the North Dakota Department of Agriculture uncovered an
illegal pesticide use in a large bee keeping operation. They were using a
witches brew of sodium cyanide, water, and sulfuric acid to fumigate bee
hives for parasitic mites, parasitic moths and, and stray bees.



So many rules and regulations have been violated that it is really hard to
know where this thing will end up. As we sit here today, we have a 30
gallon drum of sodium cyanide un-accounted for and officials believe that
it was lost along 100 mile stretch of state highway. Yesterday, the
Sheriff and NDDA went public in an effort to appeal for help in recovering
the keg and in order to warn people who might come across this stuff.
(BTW, the fall bird season opens this Saturday in ND.) The homeland
security and FBI folks are in on this and they are not amused.



It made the front pages in one of the major papers and the television
people just left my office a few moments ago.



This is a serious incident and one of my fears is that people will believe
that their honey is no longer safe too eat. Quite frankly, after visiting
with my wife last night, I simply do not have enough answers to be able to
talk intelligently about the risks to the food supply. So, we are not
eating honey in our home until we do. North Dakota is the #1 honey
producing state in the nation and we sell about 40 million pounds a year.



I am looking for ideas or references regarding cyanide and food residues.
Also, if you or your state has experiences with this particular illegal
use we would sure like to here about it. Apparently the bee keepers don’t
take this too seriously as they say “everybody does it” and they are
naming names and suppliers. Further they claim, “they do this all the time
in Texas and it is perfectly legal.” Of course, this is not at all true.
However, we’ve got a situation up here and so I am looking for some sound
advice, experience, and some facts.



Cheers,



Andrew



***************************************************************
Andrew A. Thostenson, Pesticide Program Specialist
North Dakota State University Extension Service
166 Loftsgard Hall, P.O. Box 5051
Fargo, North Dakota 58105-5051 USA
Telephone: 701.231.7180, Fax: 701.231.5907
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://ndsupesticide.org
***************************************************************





THE Official PRESS RELEASE from North Dakota Department of Agriculture:

ND Department of Agriculture Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OCTOBER 13, 2004


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COOPERATION RESULTED IN RECOVERY OF CYANIDE

BISMARCK – Following the recovery of a container of deadly sodium cyanide,
authorities are continuing their investigation into the shipment and
probable illegal use of chemical in North Dakota.

“Finding that barrel was obviously the number one priority,” said
Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson. “Now that it is in safe hands, it
is time to find out how and why it got here in the first place.”

The 110-pound container of Cyanobrik® was found late Wednesday, deep in
some cattails in a ditch along N.D. Highway 1, three miles south of
Brocket. It had been reported missing Sept. 30, when it fell off a truck.
Two other drums that had fallen off the truck had been found earlier.

“Ramsey County Sheriff Steve Nelson and his department did an outstanding
job in leading the search for that container,” Johnson said. “Thanks to
them and to the cooperation of many agencies, a potential tragedy was
avoided.”

North Dakota Department of Agriculture (NDDA) pesticide personnel Jim
Gray, Doug Johnston, Ken MacDonald and Julie Tronson, and Duane Mills,
Memphis, TN, a representative of DuPont, manufacturer of the chemical,
also took part in the search. It was Mills who actually found the keg
about 6:30 p.m.

Searchers covered more than 20 miles on foot and on all-terrain vehicles
Wednesday, looking for the container.

Agencies involved included the Devils Lakes Fire Department and Rural Fire
Department, Ramsey County Emergency Management, the Nelson County
Sheriff’s Office, Lakota Fire Department, North Dakota State Health
Department, the State Department of Emergency Management, the North Dakota
Department of Transportation, the Highway Patrol, the State Crime
Laboratory and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, as well as Ramsay
County authorities. The case initially drew the attention of the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, but after it was learned that
the chemical was intended for beekeeping, it became an agricultural
regulatory matter and NDDA took the lead role.

Johnson said that some North Dakota beekeepers have apparently been using
sodium cyanide to fumigate their hives before transporting them to other
states.

“Such use has long been illegal and must stop,” Johnson said. “We intend
to find out how and where the chemical was obtained and who has been using
it. We will then take the proper administrative action at the conclusion
of our investigation, which will likely take months to complete.”

Since the incident was first reported, NDDA investigators have located 18
containers of sodium cyanide at five locations in North Dakota. All have
been tagged with stop-sale orders. All have been traced to the same dealer
and represent the dealer’s entire sales of the chemical this year.

Sodium cyanide is used in extracting precious metals, case-hardening steel
and electroplating. It has no registered agricultural use.

Johnson said that there is no evidence that honey is not safe to eat. It
is believed that the cyanide gas is used to disinfect the hives after the
honey is removed. Such use poses no risk to honey consumers, but could
possibly endanger the persons handling the cyanide or the environment.

-30-

MEDIA: For more information, please call Roger Johnson at (701) 328-4754.

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