It's enough to give a beekeeper a headache. So, this year a regional request was prepared seeking an emergency exemption from the EPA to let beekeepers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho use a new miticide on a beehive pest strip made by the Bayer Corp., the giant German company famous for aspirin. Bayer is working on a petition for full federal registration by the EPA for the bee strip, a process that could take several years, Johansen said. The exemption expires next February. The active ingredient in the Bayer Bee Strip is a chemical called coumaphos.
Bees walk on the strips, which hang inside the hives, and distribute the chemical.
When varroa mites come into contact with the chemical, it kills them. Olson said he's delighted to have an alternative to fluvalinate. Mite resistance can sneak up on beekeepers and wreck their hives, he said. We run 5,500 hives. Tolerance to fluvalinate has been documented in Florida, South Dakota, Minnesota and California and reported in at least five other states, including Washington.