In a way, these hygienic tests are just confirming what we already knew. These breeder queens, who were selected for the health and vigor of their populations as well as low mite count, have already proven themselves. The hygienic behavior of removing dead freeze-killed brood is just a way to prove their worth on paper, something we humans seem to feel is important. But they have already proven their worth by controlling mites and removing mite infested brood. They have proven their worth by controlling viral, fungal, and bacterial disease. They have proven their worth by not only surviving but also thriving in a time when honeybees are in big trouble, when entire hives are collapsing as worker populations simply disappear, when bees are ingesting poison that we humans put not only on our food supply but also into it's DNA (Monsanto's Bt corn is genetically altered to express the bacterial Bt toxin which is poisonous to insects. For me this raises the question: if this genetically altered DNA kills insects, do we want it in our own bodies? In windblown pollen? In the developing bodies of our unborn children?) These queens are survivors.... and I wonder if we humans will adapt our own "hygienic behaviors" to control the damage we are wreaking on the earth in time to ensure that we too will survive.