Robo. I agree.
The problem I see is many...
1) Who do we believe with such items as DDT. Seems the government bans one chemical, and passes another without much more than a signature.
2) Do we believe the university researchers as some have suggested being on the take from chemical chemicals.
3)Much of the argument of DDT, seems very dated in regards to the data on both sides. In just a product such as fluvalinate, we know the half-life and damage is way beyond anything approved or realized when the product hit the market. And I bet it is such with many approved products, and with dated information.
On the surface, I have two things of concern about buying a product such as this pollen that has DDT.
One, how can we ever decide for ourselves which product to buy and use, when such information is so hard to come by.
Two, How can we ever be sure that damage is not happening in the hives?
One of the things I am looking at, is the multiplication factor of chemicals in hives. Keep in mind, these levels are the amounts that were in pollen. So it was in the pollen from the plants itself, or from the bees internal stores being passed as they formed the pollen in their baskets using saliva.
I personally have no problems with DDT in malaria countries. I do have a problems when it it passed on in the food chain, and sold in products that are not labeled as containing DDT.
This pollen tested is probably going on two years old. So some degradation of chemical levels may have occurred. Were the levels higher previously? Was there a higher multiplication factor of chemicals in the hives from using such products?
Keep in mind, this pollen was brought over by the shipload, and used from what I can imagine, everything from straight product sales, to pollen patties. And it ticks me off when I am paying the price every year trying to better my bees through natural means. And to find out that I basically was dumping in beekeeper induced chemicals, fluvalinate. And then to find out I am placing DDT in my hives on top of that.
I do not know the "safe" levels in regards to such chemicals. And are you to believe the government in regards to such information anyways?
I know I for one, have not read or heard ANYTHING about chemical levels of fluvalinate in commercially available pollen or patties. And I know I have never heard "DDT" mentioned once.
I want to know what goes in my hives. I want to make the decision of what my family eats.
Robo,
I actually read that DDT was tested, and found rather safe for bees. Although, again, the data is rather dated. And there is conflicting reports to the contrary, as it seems with everything. But when DDT is mixed with other chemicals, that is where the true danger is. You can list safe products all day long, but as soon as you mix one with another one, they become a deadly mixture. That is what we do not know, and where the biggest danger lies.