Randy told Bob:

> No one has claimed that the virus alone is the killer. 

While getting between Randy and Bob on an issue is somewhat like finding
yourself sitting between Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala on a
cross-country flight,
YES!!! they have claimed >>exactly<< that, in a paper published in the
journal "Science".

And don't claim that "we aren't reading the paper properly".  The
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) who publishes
both the journal "Science" and "Science Magazine" published the
following in "Science Magazine", which is their magazine for the
layperson, which exists solely to explain things clearly and accurately
to a non-technical audience in non-technical terms:

"Science 7 September 2007:
Puzzling Decline of U.S. Bees Linked to Virus From Australia
Erik Stokstad

Researchers report online in Science this week 
(www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1146498) 
that they have found an imported virus that may 
be associated with the sudden disappearance of 
honey bees in the United States, known as colony 
collapse disorder."

Now, if the publishers of the Journal in which the paper was published,
also the publishers that held the press conference about the paper,
wrote the headline and the 
summary above, what can we expect from anyone else in the media?  What
can we expect any other reasonable person to conclude from the paper?

"Science Magazine" did not say (nor did the authors of the paper say in
the paper itself) that their were any other possible factors involved at
all.  Yes, these other factors were mentioned in the press conference,
but, to my knowledge no one has picked up on those qualifiers.  ('Cept
us!)

> Researchers are suggested that a combination of factors is necessary.

Not in the paper!  Not a word was mentioned about any "combination" of
factors.  In fact, the authors of the paper went out of their way to
diss the work openly presented to the Working Group as a whole back in
April, even though the actual results of the paper confirmed what has
been said in April at the USDA Beltsville meeting.  I was there, I
remember exactly what was said, and so does my little digital recorder.

> Perhaps you should take the time to read the paper.

Well, I certainly took the time to read the paper, and I agree with the
characterization to which you object.

I'm not sure what the point was here, but I'm sure that anyone who reads
the paper takes away the same impression that the press did, which is
that the virus, because  it has "strong correlation" to CCD, and nothing
else is mentioned as being a factor, is the sole and proximate cause.
Sure, the authors didn't come out and say it in so many words, but the
paper was crafted to give the impression that the authors were merely
being "modest".  The pre-announcement of the paper by several of the
authors, such as this "leak", to "Lancaster Farming":
http://www.lancasterfarming.com/node/722 

were even more clear in giving the impression that it was considered to
be the "sole cause".  Why else would they attempt to "simulate" CCD on
healthy hives with only this one pathogen, if they thought that a
"combination of factors" were necessary?

The paper says what it says, and all the verbal equivocation and
qualification in the world won't change a word of it.

What we have here is the closest thing to "cold fusion" beekeeping has
ever seen.  An utterly bogus piece of work, defective on its face, and
obvious to even the casual observer as such.  It was an insult to us
all, a blatant attempt to grandstand while we all waited for something
akin to actual progress.

Anyone who wants to protect their reputations should request that their
name be removed from the paper, as was done with the Hwang Woo Suk paper
in "Science" back in 2005.  There's no fraud in this case, merely shoddy
work, unable to support a single one of the claims made.

(See http://bee-quick.com/reprints if you want to slog through the whole
paper, the supplemental material and the press conference.)

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