Silent Spring Revisited

[Dave Green]

Bees, Beekeepers Clobbered by Illegal Spraying!
              Barren Spring Predicted for Farmers, Gardeners

10-10-99   Conway, SC:    The environmental destruction of Hurricane Floyd has
now been augmented by the destruction of pollinators, one of our most important
environmental resources, during ongoing pesticide misuse by county officials.
Farmers who lost their crops this year from drought and flood, will likely lose
more next year from lack of pollination. Horry County has many crops that
require bee pollination, including strawberries, blueberries, watermelons,
cantaloupes,
and cucumbers. Gardeners will find their cucumbers curled and knotty, and their
melons small and tasteless from lack of bee visits to the blossoms. 

    Malathion is being used in a massive assault against mosquitoes.
Unfortunately, when misused, malathion seems to cause more damage to bees than
to mosquitoes. In areas that were sprayed yesterday, mosquitoes were still
fierce, while bees were dead and dying. It is obvious that these daytime
applications are not only illegal, but ineffective as well.

   The malathion label prohibits application while bees are foraging in the
application area, but county sprayers seem to be getting away with ignoring the
label directions and spraying full-tilt while bees are out doing their work.
Bees foraged today from 9:45 AM to 6:20 PM.This was determined by observations
of bees carrying pollen to the hives, and/or by actual sightings of bees on the
flowers. But county mosquito control personnel refuse to monitor the times that
bees forage, which is necessary, if they are to comply with the law.

     Sunday morning, after bees began foraging, L. W. Rabon, of Aynor, SC,
observed aerial applications over his home bee yard and other yards beginning
at  10:50 and repeated passes occurring for about an hour. Bees had definitely
begun foraging, so this was a clear violation of the malathion label. He has
serious damage to his bees, with many dead and dying bees at the entrances of
the hives. Beekeepers know that
many of the bees never make it back to the hives, so the damage that is seen is
only a part of the total.  I estimate Rabon's damage to be in excess of $10,000
when all is said and done.

    Requests to the Department of Pesticide Regulation, the Attorney General
and the Governor have met with stonewalling so far.  What really hurts is that
Extension Apiary Specialist, Dr. Mike Hood, has been totally silent, despite
pleas for help for beekeepers, in the form of official monitoring of forage
times, and helping beekeepers determine when label violations are occurring. 
We would think that, of these, the extension bee man would be the best advocate
for bees and beekeepers.  Perhaps the list members could add their pleas for
him to GIVE US SOME HELP!    His address is mhood at clemson.edu   The head of the
Department of Pesticide Regulation is listed on the special website below. 

  The applications continue today, probably in violation....

    More info is available at a special web site created for this situation:
Caught in the Act!       http://members.aol.com/gardenbees/

Dave Green    Hemingway, SC   USA
The Pollination Home Page:     http://www.pollinator.com
The Pollination Scene:   http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html

Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop    (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles):
http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm