Vita launches new honeybee health research award at Apimondia

President Yuschenko to be award’s patron. A new award to promote research into honeybee health has just been launched by Vita (Europe) Ltd, the honeybee health and mite control specialists. Valued at up to €10,000, the award will be made on a regular basis to help fund new honeybee health research. Any individual or organisation can apply.

President Viktor Yuschenko of the Ukraine, a life-long beekeeper, has agreed to become the Award’s Patron.

“This award is designed to stimulate new research into any of the diseases that affect honeybees,” explained Jeremy Owen, Sales Director of Vita. “We will be especially, but not exclusively, interested in naturally-based treatments that are really effective since that is clearly a priority for many beekeepers across the globe.”

Owen continued: “We are naturally thrilled that President Yuschenko has agreed to become the Award’s patron. As a beekeeper and a president, he fully understands the significance of a healthy honeybee population to national economies.”

Amongst the diseases and pests of particular interest to Vita are those which as yet have no known effective controls: the small hive beetle which is spreading globally and almost established a foothold in Europe last year; chalkbrood which seems to be increasing in prevalence in certain areas; and the long-established problems of varroa and foulbrood.

The inaugural winner of the Vita prize is Dr Alexandros Papachristoforou of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece for his ongoing work on chalkbrood control. As a fungal brood disease, chalkbrood can debilitate colonies and is especially serious in certain parts of the world. As yet, the incidence and extent of chalkbrood is not fully understood and until now there has been no effective treatment. Papachristoforou is discovering that both a new bacterial product CBB and Apiguard can be very effective and is undertaking further work to establish the conditions for its maximum efficacy.

Application details for the next award will appear on the Vita website in September 2005. See www.vita-europe.com