Authorities and bee health – that was quite an experience this year. And I have… let’s say thoughts. To begin with, I’m totally fine with honey bees being under veterinary regulation. I think this is necessary: We’re managing an animal, so the responsibility of taking care of this animal as good as possible is in the hands of the beekeeper. And like a farmer with cows or poultry, there are rules on how to this in the best way possible. In beekeeping, this is a little bit more difficult perhaps. First of all, because honey bees entered the regulation only much later than other managed animals (cattle, poultry, whatever). It was right to include them, but beekeepers are still not used to these rules and regulations.
In the regulation on veterinary medicine you can read “no veterinary medicine should be sold in the EU as long as it is not registered and its quality, efficacy and safety have been proven”. I’m paraphrasing, I read legal texts in German to be sure that I don’t misunderstand. But as I often say: Varroa treatments are veterinary medicine, so obviously, they have to be registered and used with the necessary care. For food producing animals, like honey bees, there are some extra rules to respect. Like that the honey isn’t contaminated with that medicine above the levels that are safe for human consumption.
Control measures at the practical level
But coming back to authorities and bee health: Obviously, if there’s a regulation, it has to be implemented and controlled. This has different levels. First, the beekeepers have to document the treatments they do and with what. Vets from the local/regional authority can control this documentation and also the apiaries to see if everything is ok. This is also important in cases of American Foulbrood, to make sure that quarantine zones are respected and the colonies are sanitized correctly, etc.
Another example: When the Small Hive Beetle (SHB) entered the EU in Southern Italy, the veterinary authorities were involved in the attempts of eradication. As it often happens, this didn’t lead to success – the beetle was already established when it was noticed by the authorities. After burning a lot of colonies, now a monitoring system is in place. And SHB are almost forgotten again, as they didn’t make the damages we know from the US or Australia. Everything under control, beekeeping in Calabria is thriving. Who knows why… but I’m very convinced that good practices play a role in this.
Some complaints about missing knowledge
However, in the time of the eradication attempts, beekeepers complained about the vets. That’s understandable: In the end, they burned their colonies. But one complaint was also about the missing knowledge of the vets.
It’s true that vets surely don’t hear as much about honey bees during their studies as they do about other animals. Also in this case, it plays a role that honey bees were included in the regulations much later than other managed animals.
The situation is changing, fortunately. There are several “bee vet” associations in different EU member states. With vets that specialize in the sector and know their things, often being beekeepers themselves. In some cases, they even take the same courses as beekeepers to learn more about bees and their diseases. So, it takes both sides to listen to each other perhaps. Then, maybe, when (not if!) the next challenge comes things work out a little bit more smoothly and without accusations. Those don’t solve problems.
Authorities and bee health in the development of bee medicine
The relationship between authorities and bee health, however, doesn’t end there. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, every veterinary medicine needs a registration before it comes onto the market. This means a different kind of authorities than the regional veterinarians. They’re involved at different levels: They authorize the necessary studies, review the dossier, and finally ask a lot of questions at every step. In the end, hopefully, there’s a good product for treating against varroa.
The questions are necessary so that the authorities understand the product, how it works, and understand the differences in beekeeping compared to other animal husbandry. The latter is often an issue. Especially as beekeeping is mandatory outside. You can’t isolate honey bee colonies as you can do it with cattle in a stable. As varroa mites are always there, the treatment follows a special timing. Sometimes it’s difficult to make this understand and the consequences that these facts have for study planning and performance.
In most cases, when you explain these “special conditions”, the authority will understand. So, the problem is not so much the lack of knowledge. Mostly. This year, I had two cases of something worse than that. Not listening. I have the impression that in some authorities there’s a new generation of people. With the lack of experience comes insecurity and just blocking things to not make mistakes. Instead of listening. And learning. And, by this, completely contradicting the declared intention of the EU: To help the beekeeping sector and make varroa treatments more available.
Education for authorities on bee health?
So, these are the things I’m dealing with at the moment. A real pain sometimes. Especially, as there are no real issues, just insecurity and not listening. It’s always a personality thing, as in most cases the explanations of what is different will be accepted. It’s a certain type of human who blocks everything they don’t really understand. And does harm. Which presumably the contrary of what they want.
Education helps also in this, by the way. What makes these two cases of blocking behaviour this year so bad is not only the time and nerves they made me lose. But despite the people trying to demonstrate power and being on the side of animal health, with some of their requests they were putting bee colonies at risk. So, it would be very helpful if the competent offices would get some education. And listen. Because applying wrong schemes doesn’t protect bees. Nor does this make the relationship between authorities and bee health a better one.
