tecumseh said:
> I noted in an old bee magazine a fischer bee lift... any connection?
Nope, not me. The "Fisher's Famous Honey Sticks" guy is ALSO not me.
(Note the spelling difference)
Barry Digman asked:
> Do I really have to call Monsanto or Dow or Bayer and ask if they're a
> charity or a business?
Yes, you really
do!
You will be pleasantly surprised to find out that in regard to CCD,
they have been DONATING
SIGNIFICANT RESOURCES for well over a year,
despite the misguided critiques and insulting comments being tossed in their
general direction by beekeepers.
Here are two researchers on pesticide toxicity at Bayer:
alison.chalmers@bayercropscience.com
david.fischer@bayercropscience.com
And a very senior PR executive at Bayer:
jack.boyne@bayercropscience.com
And here's something I wrote nearly a year ago about how charitable
Bayer has been in regard to the CCD issue:
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/serial_killer.pdf
"
There was one encouraging note. Bayer CropScience offered to provide
their standard analytical samples of metabolite chemistry, the chemicals
that result from plants metabolizing Imradaclopid. This systemic
pesticide, made by Bayer, has been mentioned as a suspect often.
Bayer seems confident enough that CCD is not caused by their products
to provide the rope that could be used to hang them."
Now, you can bluster all you want about how cooperating with the CCD
investigation is "good PR" for Bayer, or you can get all paranoid about
how they might somehow be subverting the process, but the only tangible
evidence we have here is that they handed over valuable and highly
proprietary chemistry for free and sent their best toxicology people to the
"working group" meetings, and did all this well before there was any
significant evidence tending to support claims that their products are not
the cause of CCD.
I think they showed an amazing level of openness.
It is easy to demonize the pesticide companies, as they are such easy
targets, and people are predisposed to hate them. But when you look
at the actual chemistry, you find that "systemics" in general, and
seed-treatment systemics in specific are perhaps the best thing that ever
happened to beekeeping, as a pesticide that is not sprayed is a potential pesticde kill avoided.
And if you haven't lost at least 100 colonies to pesticide kills, you really
do not have a legitimate "seat at the table" on this issue, as you haven't
paid your dues. There are lots of areas where smaller operations and
hobbyists have exactly the same conditions as larger operations, but
pesticide kills are rare for non-pollinating operations.