Subject: Essential Oils

From: [email-masked] (David J Trickett)
Date: 27 Aug 1996 05:32:18 GMT

I have been trying to get someone at EPA, USDA, or FDA to 
confirm or deny that application of these treatments would render honey 
illegal for sale.  No luck so far, but I'll keep calling.

Assuming application of mint oils is effective against mites, it 
would behoove us to obtain some sort of official sanction for its 
implementation.  I assert this because these treatments appear to be 
cheaper than apistan, and because use of apistan is (or will be) reducing 
honey's standing as a "safe," "natural," semi-organic food.   (I don't 
care what the label says about no detectable residues resulting when used 
properly.  And what about the big guys out there using "home 
remedy?")
   
Also, is anyone else out there worried about the wax pool becoming
contaminated?  ("Wax Pool..." what a thing to be worried about!  Think of
the possibilities for opening lines:  "Hi, My name's Dave, I get stung a
lot and lay awake at night pondering virgin queens, honey vs. pollen
production, and the sanctity of our nation's wax pool - would you like to
go out for coffee sometime?...") Minimally, this has some serious
implications for queen breeding since the "cups" grafted into and used for
starting queen cells need to be free of anything that would harm the
larvae - and my understanding is that many of the big queen producers buy
the cups rather than produce them.  I wonder if anyone in the production
end is watching this.  I would think that this would be one of the first
place that miticide residues would begin to be a problem, next perhaps in
foundation used for brood frames, and last for foundation used for honey
frames. 

If there's any legitimacy to this concern, we may end up experiencing 
the problem in the next year or two in the form of commercial queen 
producers experiencing difficulty in producing queens - even after/if we 
find a replacement for apistan.  

Dave T.

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From: [email-masked] (MiksaHF)
Date: 28 Aug 1996 21:05:43 -0400

Just use the #@^&$# oils for the better health of the colonies  "IE" DON'T
make any claims of being a killer of mites.......only thing I care is the
right foods given to bees will make their bodies strong.     If you decide
what contaminates your colonies,,,, follow a bee for several days, it
gathers  water from a canal behind a facrory of you know what,   sat on a
cow pie,   pesticides on crops,  air with dirt, gas, rubber from a main
highway used to ripen honey. 

  As long as it is food and human grade supplements I'll use them on
myself too.

Your inquiries to FDA EPA HRS USDA etc etc brings tears to my eyes.

I'am a queen breeder who makes and uses beeswax queencell cups of over
100,000 per year,   yes, I only use my own wax.    
Keep the weeds out of your garden!

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From: [email-masked] (beeman at esoteric services)
Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 06:53:24 GMT

David J Trickett ([email-masked]) wrote:

: Also, is anyone else out there worried about the wax pool becoming
: contaminated?  ("Wax Pool..." what a thing to be worried about!  Think of

: Dave T. 

      Hi, Dave, I have an article from Belgium with the numbers on wax 
contamination. they recomend not to eat comb honey!  
I have some candles I'm tempted not to sell because I know they are not 
contaminated, I'll covet them as momentos of the past.  remember when.....
  -------beeman