To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] APHIS blamed for letting in CCD
Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:12:45 -0500
For those of you who think APHIS is a bunch of idiots, here's an interview
with some bee expert who told APHIS that he wanted to quarantine the bees
they'd decided to let in from Australia. We hadn't had new bees brought
into the US for 83 years, so he said let's quarantine them for awhile, then
inspect them. APHIS said if he insisted on doing that, he would be
interfering with commerce and profits, and he'd be sued. Sooo, I wonder
what the net gains and losses add up to for the American beekeeping industry
resulting from the importation of Australian bees? I believe in China that
the APHIS top guys would be publicly beheaded.
Now that I think about it, it seems like APHIS has been very quiet
during all the cries of consternation regarding CCD. Are they feeling a bit
guilty about their decision to let bees into this country with less
background checking or inspection than the average tourist endures? I hope
you all can access this link:
http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1323&category=Environment