Tom Theobald is speaking at the National Pesticide Forum hosted by Beyond Pesticides on Friday, April 8th, 2011. Check out the Pesticides and Pollinators panel at 8:00pm. The full details are available here.
Panelist Biographies
Tom Theobald – Beekeeper and owner of the Niwot Honey Farm for 35 years, Mr. Theobald is one of the founders of the Boulder County Beekeepers’ Association and its president for 30 years. Tom recently stepped into the limelight when he leaked an EPA memo disclosing a critically flawed science used to register (legalize) the bee-killing pesticide clothianidin. Tom was the last County Bee Inspector in the state of Colorado, a position created in 1891 and retired in 2000. Listen to Tom and Beyond Pesticides executive director Jay Feldman talk about the leaked EPA document.\James Frazier, PhD – Professor of entomology at Penn State University, Dr. Frazier is part of the team leading the national research into the disappearance of honeybees, known as colony collapse disorder (CCD). CCD is a phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive or honeybee colony abruptly disappear. His team is focusing on synergistic and sublethal effects of multiple pesticides on the chemical senses and chemically mediated behaviors of honeybees in relation to honeybee health and CCD. Dr. Frazier is an expert in the field of chemical ecology. His other research focuses on the structure and functioning of insect chemosensory systems and on chemically mediated behavior.
Marygael Meister is a backyard beekeeper and founder of the urban beekeeping group, Denver Bee. In 2008 Ms. Meister took a beekeeping class and set up two hives in her backyard to help her garden thrive. She was initially told by the city that it was legal to keep bees. The information was incorrect, and she received a cease-and-desist order when a neighbor complained about her hives. Despite potential fines and jail time, Ms. Meister organized, founded Denver Bee and changing the city ordinance. Read about Ms. Meister in a December New York Times article on urban beekeeping.
