Africanized Bees

* “Sting Operations” (April 24) skims the surface and omits the in-depth discussion that I expect in a leading national newspaper.

The residents sound a little hysterical about the threat posed by the bees, while the workers seem totally unconcerned about the larger effects of the poisons they use.

This article left a lot of questions unanswered.

Are complaints about the bees out of proportion to their real danger?

Aren’t bees an integral part of our ecosystem, necessary to pollinate flowers and trees?

What is the long-term result if we succeed in removing all bees from our area?

Doesn’t the use of thousands of gallons of pesticides and poisons threaten us, and particularly children, a lot more than do the bees?

Doesn’t the term “Africanized” suggest that the indigenous bees and the African bees are interbreeding in such a way as to reduce the aggression of the African bees?

Can the beehives be relocated without killing the bees?

We need to realize the dangers of pesticides to our health and learn how to live with the plants, animals and, yes, even insects that are part of our natural world.

CHARLES MARK-WALKER

North Hills