According to the EPA representatives who were present at the Md. State Beekeepers Mtg. today. OA is no longer listed as a pesticide and they (EPA) are actively pursuing its use as miticide and hope to have it approved for use in beehives later this year or early next.
OA will still be cheap...now the taxes that they tack on to it will be another story. $7 can just jumped to $20. Would someone like to tell me exactly why we need "gov't approval" to use something that we already know works????
Wood bleach that is 98% pure or higher is just fine. Savogran, sold by many stores as wood bleach, meets that requirement (or so the manufacturer has stated)...
It would not surprise me to discover there might be a "business interest" working with the EPA on this.
Something along the lines of .... A new "approved" product with pre-measured doses of OA, packaged and marketed specifically for the beekeeping industry. The price would of course be 10 times higher than the cost of "Wood Bleach". Just don't get caught using off label Savogran on your hives.
Once approved (if approved) how could anyone tell the difference between using "off label Savogran" or the "approved pre-measured doses?" No difference in product.
I am calm now, It pains me to see everything we have been fighting against since Varroa showed up on the scene, everything we know to be inherently wrong, spouted out as advice to new upcoming beekeepers all over the world. I was utterly floored by the comment. It would be good business to remove the messages and cease the shameful sideways attempts at furthering business profits. That's all I really care to comment on the matter.
Ha Ha I can see SNL getting his bank accounts ready now, for the influx of money once OA is legalised!
There would also be an opportunity, to source medical grade OA to sell to people who are concerned about purity.
Me, I think the government should stay out of dictating what brand of OA can be used, that will do nothing but add cost to the beekeeping industry. The potential for contaminating a hive from a wood bleach application is tiny, it's not like bees never get dirty when they go out.
I believe my own country has a good model. Treating bees with OA is legal, and you can use any old hardware store bought OA you want. There are some beekeepers though who are concerned with purity and there is no law against them using some highly refined expensive stuff.
Normal use of the same pesticide is bound to create resistance too. Abuse does not have to exist. Even if sometimes it happens. Checkmite was not developed because Apistan stopped working. It was an alternative. Miticure, an Apistan based strip, was developed from a cattle mite ear tag. But the company discontinued making it for beekeepers.
Normal use of the same pesticide is bound to create resistance too. Abuse does not have to exist. Even if sometimes it happens. Checkmite was not developed because Apistan stopped working. It was an alternative. Miticure, an Apistan based strip, was developed from a cattle mite ear tag. But the company discontinued making it for beekeepers.
That's fallacious logic. Resistance doesn't always come overnight.
Think of Roundup. Glyphosate was discovered as a herbicide in 1970, but the first instance of resistant weeds came in 1996, 26 years later.
I have heard multiple experts state, however, that it is harder for lifeforms to become resistance to pesticides that work through pH, like OA does. Note, though, harder. Not impossible.
I think OA is a wonderful product. But I also think that using OA multiple times per year, and never using anything else, would be a mistake.
If the EPA is working on this, it will be in print somewhere....Where can we read about this?
If we know the EPA tack on this issue, we can write our representatives to urge their support. If ever a fast track for approval was indicated, it should be considered for OA vaporization.
Me, I'm writing to Michelle Obama. As a "Beehaver" I would hope that this is a cause she could pursue. We all (well almost all) know that the woman rule the roost. Email her with your request for the fast tracking of OA.
Lburou - Good question. I did some googling, and found no mention of EPA removing oxalic acid from pesticide status. Usually, when EPA does something, they make a public comment about it. Makes me wonder if there was possibly some form of misunderstanding by one or more people at that Maryland State Beekeeper Meeting . . . ?
If the EPA was moving towards approving a use of oxalic acid a a varroa control, oxalic acid would still be considered a "pesticide". It would however, be part of a product that was labelled and approved for that use, still as a pesticide.
Pardon my cynicism, but if the EPA is moving in that direction, it is only because some product manufacturer sees the potential for making some money with this labeled and registered application of oxalic acid. I would expect to see this approved use in a form that is not easily duplicated with widely available hardware store oxalic acid - otherwise why pay for the testing and approval process? There would be little likelihood of the details being made public before the manufacturer has their ducks in a row.
If the EPA was moving towards approving a use of oxalic acid a a varroa control, oxalic acid would still be considered a "pesticide". It would however, be part of a product that was labelled and approved for that use, still as a pesticide.
The use of OA as a pesticide had expired and was not reapplied for....... thus again according to Meredith the EPA no longer lists it as a pesticide...
This will probably disappear when competitors get wind of it.
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