Guest guest Posted April 21, 2001 Report Share Posted April 21, 2001 This is here to educate. I didn't know alot of this stuff. Please read on. How About Honey? In the honey industry, the buzz word is profit. Like factory farmers, many beekeepers take inhumane steps to ensure personal safety and reach production quotas. It is not unusual for larger honey producers to cut off the wings of the queen bee so that she cannot leave the colony, or to have her artificially inseminated on a bee-sized version of the factory farm " rape rack. " (6) When the keeper wants to move a queen to a new colony, she is carried with " bodyguard " bees, all of whom--if they survive transport-- will be killed by bees in the new colony. Large commercial operations also may take all the honey instead of leaving the 60 pounds or so that bees need to get through the winter. They replace the rich honey with a cheap sugar substitute that is not as fortifying or tasty. In colder areas, if the keepers consider it too costly to keep the bees alive through the winter, they will destroy the hives by pouring gasoline on them, killing most of the bees with the fumes, and setting them on fire. Other times, keepers, who feel that lost bees are easily replaced, allow them to die when trees are sprayed with insecticide. Bees are often killed, or their wings and legs torn off, by haphazard handling. To produce a pound of honey, bees must get pollen from 2 million flowers and must fly more than 55,000 miles.(7) Honeybees returning to the hive from a pollen-seeking expedition " dance " in figure eights to " map out " a route for other bees to follow. These dances " encode information about the distance and direction of a target that can be miles away from the nest, " said Thomas D. Seeley of Cornell University.(8) According to the Cook-DuPage Beekeepers' Association, humans have been using honey since about 15,000 B.C., but it wasn't until the 20th century that people turned bees into factory-farmed animals. In 1987, the honey " crop " netted $115.4 million.(9) Luckily, many sweeteners are made without killing bees: Rice syrup, molasses, sorghum, barley malt, maple syrup, and dried fruit or fruit concentrates can replace honey in recipes.(10) Use these substitutes to keep your diet bee-free. Andrew Barnes 07970 075905 -------------------- talk21 your FREE portable and private address on the net at http://www.talk21.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 23, 2001 Report Share Posted April 23, 2001 You never seemed to acknowledge my reply. I'll say it again, the official definition of vegan says it leaves the taking of honey to the individuals consciousness. The is no such thing as a perfect definition or a perfect vegan. Any vegan who advocates that someone is less a vegan than them has a complex. All points below are irrelevant to " home made " honey by traditional methods. I agree that FF'ed honey is bad. alwbarnes [alwbarnes] 21 April 2001 03:58 vegan-network Who are you calling 'Honey'? This is here to educate. I didn't know alot of this stuff. Please read on. How About Honey? In the honey industry, the buzz word is profit. Like factory farmers, many beekeepers take inhumane steps to ensure personal safety and reach production quotas. It is not unusual for larger honey producers to cut off the wings of the queen bee so that she cannot leave the colony, or to have her artificially inseminated on a bee-sized version of the factory farm " rape rack. " (6) When the keeper wants to move a queen to a new colony, she is carried with " bodyguard " bees, all of whom--if they survive transport-- will be killed by bees in the new colony. Large commercial operations also may take all the honey instead of leaving the 60 pounds or so that bees need to get through the winter. They replace the rich honey with a cheap sugar substitute that is not as fortifying or tasty. In colder areas, if the keepers consider it too costly to keep the bees alive through the winter, they will destroy the hives by pouring gasoline on them, killing most of the bees with the fumes, and setting them on fire. Other times, keepers, who feel that lost bees are easily replaced, allow them to die when trees are sprayed with insecticide. Bees are often killed, or their wings and legs torn off, by haphazard handling. To produce a pound of honey, bees must get pollen from 2 million flowers and must fly more than 55,000 miles.(7) Honeybees returning to the hive from a pollen-seeking expedition " dance " in figure eights to " map out " a route for other bees to follow. These dances " encode information about the distance and direction of a target that can be miles away from the nest, " said Thomas D. Seeley of Cornell University.(8) According to the Cook-DuPage Beekeepers' Association, humans have been using honey since about 15,000 B.C., but it wasn't until the 20th century that people turned bees into factory-farmed animals. In 1987, the honey " crop " netted $115.4 million.(9) Luckily, many sweeteners are made without killing bees: Rice syrup, molasses, sorghum, barley malt, maple syrup, and dried fruit or fruit concentrates can replace honey in recipes.(10) Use these substitutes to keep your diet bee-free. Andrew Barnes 07970 075905 -------------------- talk21 your FREE portable and private address on the net at http://www.talk21.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 23, 2001 Report Share Posted April 23, 2001 I replied saying we should wait until a bee tells us if they mind or not. The only reason the definition of vegan is in doubt is because of a few people, who got confused about it 35 yrs ago. They introduced the confusion. Hey - lets include fish aswell - they don't feel pain, do they? ... > You never seemed to acknowledge my reply. >I'll say it again, the official definition of vegan says it leaves the >taking of honey to the individuals consciousness. The is no such thing as a >perfect definition or a perfect vegan. Any vegan who advocates that someone >is less a vegan than them has a complex. >All points below are irrelevant to " home made " honey by traditional methods. >I agree that FF'ed honey is bad. > > Andrew Barnes 07970 075905 -------------------- talk21 your FREE portable and private address on the net at http://www.talk21.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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