I am unsympathetic to Australians wanting to export their bees or honey anywhere. I purchased a sampler of New Zealand honey which was confiscated by Australian customs on the grounds that it endangered the Australian honey industry even though I had no intention of opening the jars until returning to California. Jim Shaver, Los Angeles On Mon, 22 Dec 1997 13:33:59 -1000 Walter Patton <[log in to unmask]> writes: >Dear BEE-L readers > The USDA is poised to allow Australian and New Zealand honey >bees into the >United States. It has not been in the federal registry and they would >like >to allow this to start in Spring of 1998. The USDA already has >circumvented >the intent of the Honey Bee act of 1922 with a sloppy (possibly an >illegal) >rule making process a couple of years ago that effectively did away >with >the Honey Bee Act which was established in 1922 by Congress with the >intent >" to prevent the introduction and spread of pests and disease of Honey >Bees" by prohibiting the import of Honey Bees from any where to the U >S . > History lesson over the USDA is ready, in 1998, to allow the >Australian >and NZ honey bees into the US. The problem is that the Australians and >the >New Zealand bee keeping industry needs easy access to the Honolulu >International Airport as a break and distribution hub to facilitate >the >business of exporting their bees to the US, Canada, Korea, and of >coarse >China. In the last rule making the USDA tried to ignore that this >transiting of NZ honey bees through Honolulu airport constituted an >entry >into the state of Hawaii which has been prohibited since 1985 by >Hawaii >State Statue in an attempt to protect the Hawaiian Honey Bees from the >introduction of Honey bee mites and other diseases. Hawaii queen bees >are >certified to be mite free. > Now after more consideration the USDA has recognized that this >transiting >is an entry and that the concerns of the State of Hawaii and the >Hawaii bee >keepers should be given a little additional thought. In addition to >the >request of New Zealand and Australia other Asian countries according >to Dr. >Robert Flanders with APHIS/USDA have been making inquiries about >transiting >through Hawaii to export markets. A quick fix was proposed that if >the >State of Hawaii would not object to the transiting of NZ and Aus. >Honey >bees that Hawaii would be excluded from the import of the NZ and Aus. >Bees >leaving this issue of other countries to be decided at a later date. > To date the Hawaii Dept. Of Ag has said no to the quick fix >and is >developing a protocol proposal for the testing of the Hawaii honey bee >populations. The question is what is needed for a true risk assessment >to >be meaningful? How many of the 12 or 14 diseases reported to be >present on >the NZ bees should we look for on our bees? Proving a negative being >much >more difficult then proving a positive what percentage do we have to >check. >100% or > 5 % of total colonies? What is the health status of other nations >wishing >to ship through Hawaii and do we screen for those also? >I really and truly do not have a clue as to the answer to these >questions. >The Hawaii Dept. Of Ag.is seeking input from the industry and I would >appreciate any suggestions from the group. >Thanking everyone for their considerations in advance and wishing >everyone >the Happiest of Holidays- > Aloha Walter Patton Hawaii >