The careless disregard with which we ship bees from
country to country has resulted in the irreversible
spread of many serious parasites and pathogens. Strict quarantine
controls should be implemented on the movement of all
commercial bees, and there is an urgent need to develop
means of rearing commercial bumblebees that are free from
disease. Deliberate introductions of non-native bee species
(such as the recent introduction of the European
Bombus terrestris to South America) should of course be prevented.
The companies that rear commercial bees should bear some
responsibility here, and refuse to sell bees
to regions where they are not native. There is clear hypocrisy in the policies
of countries that prevent importation of non-native species
but allow exportation of species to places where they do not naturally occur
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