Section 62 (1) of the Animal Products (Ancillary and Transitional Provisions) Act 1999 provides that:
"No person may use any drug, substance, or mixture of substances for the prevention or treatment of any disease in bees, other than a drug for the time being approved for that purpose pursuant to subsection (2)."
Section 62 (2) of the Animal Products (Ancillary and Transitional Provisions) Act 1999 provides that:
"The Minister may from time to time, by notice in the New Zealand Gazette, approve the use, subject to
such conditions as the Minister specifies, of any specified drug for the prevention or treatment of
any specified disease."
Pursuant to section 62 of the Animal Products (Ancillary and Transitional Provisions) Act 1999, I approve the use of the drug
thymol
for the prevention or treatment of varroa (Varroa destructor), subject to the following conditions:
? Guidelines for thymol in the document Control of Varroa: A Guide for Beekeepers must be followed; and
? use must be limited to periods when honey supers are not present in the hives.
Dated at Wellington this 4th day of May 2004.
ANNETTE KING, Minister for Food Safety.