As regular readers of this blog will know – I have an interest in bee keeping, and we have two hives in our garden. That being the case, you will probably not be surprised to hear that over the weekend we went to see the movie “The Secret Life of Bee’s”
Whilst it was good to see a movie that has a “bee theme” – what was particularly exciting for me was to read the article in this weeks New Zealand Herald about the miracle cure experienced by a 68 year old American, Tom Lloyd. The story is that New York doctors used manuka bandages to treat a leg infection when other traditional treatments failed.
Tom was told the doctors would have to either amputate the leg or cut out the dead skin and replace it with flesh from another part of his body. That was until a nurse suggested trying MediHoney, a manuka-soaked bandage made of seaweed from New Zealand, that had just been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Success stories such as this are exciting and uplifting. What people may not know however is that the world wide bee population is in serious trouble. In the UK – bee keepers are demanding more money for research following a drop in numbers by nearly a third in the last year. The situation is even worse in the US where Colony Collapse Disorder is giving rise to dramatic loses of between 30% – 90%. Possible explanations include pesticides, a new parasite or pathogen, or a combination of immune-suppressing stresses.
It seems to me that it is time to start to pay attention to the effect that money and corporate values are having on the environment. Financial bail outs for car manufactures and banks are all well and good, but what about the plight of the humble honey bee. It is time to start looking towards people, health and environmental values before it is too late!
