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Colony The Endangered World of Bees DVD Review

Colony The Endangered World of Bees is a sobering look at the danger of Colony Collapse Disorder among honey bees in California and the impact that it has upon different areas of agriculture and economy .  Directors Carter Gunn and Ross McDonnell interview long time beekeeper David Mendes for his input on the potential crisis.  Mendes provides some interesting insight and points out some of the potential damage that the disorder could cause if it is not brought under control.

The documentary also focuses on another California family, The Seppis, who have decided to enter the world of beekeeping during the time when the industry is at its most vulnerable.  The Seppi brothers and their mother run their beekeeping business efficiently, with all family members playing a part, exactly as a colony of honey bees does.  This approach has allowed them to keep their head above water even as the big consumers of honey attempt to strongarm the suppliers into selling their honey for less.  I felt this part of the documentary was an interesting human interest piece that might even trump the Colony Collapse Disorder as the most interesting arc on this DVD.
The big threat to the bees is discussed but never to the point that I felt like I had a firm grasp on the problem.  The scope of this disorder is unclear.  I was unsure whether it was confined to California or was a global problem.  I also would have liked a brief history on Colony Collapse Disorder.  Is this a new issue or an older one that has spread and is now more severe.
The best thing about Colony is the cinematography.  When the cameras focus on the symmetry of the hives and show the bees up close the results look fantastic.  When bees are shown flying in slow motion it is one of those things that reveal the beauty of nature.  I honestly would have liked to see a Blu Ray release of this for the nature cinematography.

I found Colony an interesting documentary that doesn’t quite make up it’s mind as of what to focus on.  The portrayal of the Seppi family, who keep bees for a living, and have adapted somewhat to a bee-like colony approach to running the family business is interesting enough to spawn a second short documentary instead of fitting it into this look at the plight of the bees in California and the danger of their extinction due to Colony Collapse Disorder.

http://kinkycyborg.com/wordpress/colony-the-endangered-world-of-bees/dvd-reviews/

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Does local honey diminish allergies?

It certainly tastes fabulous, but does local honey have the power to stop itchy eyes and scratchy throats?

A letter to the New York Times editor about local honey helping to fight allergies got me thinking. Does it really work? I’ve heard about this natural allergy-fighting remedy before, but I always wonder, how do you know it works? How much would you need to consume?

I use only local honey. The wildflower honey I get from a South Jersey honey producer is amazingly delicious. Tasted alongside of the grocery store honey that comes in a little bear, there’s no comparison. I always stock up at the end of farmers market season so I have enough to last me through the winter.

No one in my family suffers terribly from seasonal allergies. My oldest son and I do get itchy eyes and a bit of a sore throat when the seasons start to change in the spring and fall, but it only lasts a couple of days. We wait it out and don’t take any medication.

I wonder if our symptoms would be worse if I didn’t buy local honey? Could the honey mustard chicken recipe that my boys like so much that I make it weekly in the winter be medicinal?

The theory about local honey and allergies is this: your local bees are most likely to collect pollen from the local flowers in your area. That pollen will end up in small amounts in the honey produced. By ingesting that honey on a regular basis, the person eating the honey will build up immunity to the pollens from the flowers in their local region. It’s sort of like a vaccine taken little by little.

That’s the theory. There doesn’t seem to be any scientific evidence to back that up, however. I can’t find any scientific studies that test the theory. Even without scientific evidence, it seems like one of those ideas that it wouldn’t hurt to try. There are other proven benefits. It can immediately sooth a sore throat (whether it’s caused by seasonal allergies or not). It’s a natural, temporary energy booster. According to the National Honey Board, it “contains small amounts of a wide array of vitamins and minerals, including niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc.”

In addition to the health benefits, buying local honey helps support the local honey producers. The small bee farmers are on the front lines of helping to save our decreasing bee population right now, and purchasing their local products can help keep them in their fight.

My question to you is, do you use local honey to alleviate the symptoms of your seasonal allergies? Do you believe it works and why? I'm really curious.

The opinions expressed by MNN Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect    the opinions of MNN.com. While we have reviewed their content to make sure it complies with our Terms and Conditions,MNN is not responsible for the accuracy of any of their information.

 

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Honey News

HARROGATE, England, April 15 (UPI) -- Researchers in Wales say honey -- used by Roman soldiers to treat wounds in battle -- is an option for treating drug-resistant wound infections.
Professor Rose Cooper of the University of Wales Institute Cardiff and colleagues examined how Monika honey interacted with three types of common bacteria that infest wounds -- Pseudonyms origins, Group A Streptococci and Medellin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
Monika honey is derived from nectar collected by honey bees foraging on the Monika tree in New Zealand and is included in modern licensed wound-care products around the world, Cooper said.
Cooper and colleagues found honey can interfere with the growth of these bacteria in a variety of ways.
"Our findings with streptococci and predominates suggest that Monika honey can hamper the attachment of bacteria to tissues which is an essential step in the initiation of acute infections. Inhibiting attachment also blocks the formation of bio films, which can protect bacteria from antibiotics and allow them to cause persistent infections," Cooper said in a statement. "Other work in our lab has shown that honey can make MRSA more sensitive to antibiotics such as excelling -- effectively reversing antibiotic resistance. This indicates that existing antibiotics may be more effective against drug-resistant infections if used in combination with Monika honey."
The research was presented at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Harrogate.


Read more: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/04/15/Honey-curbs-MRSA-and-other-bacteria/UPI-94871302842360/#ixzz1Jb85lLZm

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Super bug breakthrough -- manuka honey may reverse antibiotic resistance

Thursday,
April 14, 2011 by: S. L. Baker, features writer

NaturalNews) In less than a week, three different research studies have been released about
antibiotic-resistant super bugs. Two were issued as nothing less than dire
warnings. For example, as NaturalNews covered earlier, UK scientists are
calling for the "urgent need for global action" due to the discovery of a
spreading phenomenon -- a gene that is turning bacteria into not just super bugs
but SUPER superbugs.
On the heels of that report, the Infectious Diseases
Society of America (IDSA) has just sounded the alarm that an impending "health
care disaster" is looming unless Big Pharma can find new drugs to combat deadly
antibiotic-resistant super bugs.

Tired of all this bad news? Keep
reading. Because amid all this gloom-and-doom about the threat of deadly super bugs
comes yet another study from a third group of scientists that reaches a
new and hopeful conclusion.

It turns out these researchers have
found a way to battle life-threatening super bugs naturally with manuka honey. In fact, manuka honey
could be an efficient way to clear chronically infected wounds and could even
reverse super bug bacterial resistance to antibiotics.

Those are the results of a report just presented at the Society for General
Microbiology's Spring Conference in Harrogate in the UK. Professor Rose Cooper
from the University of Wales Institute Cardiff is investigating how manuka honey
interacts with three types of bacteria that commonly
infest wounds: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Group A Streptococci and
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). She and her research team have
discovered that honey can interfere with the growth of these bacteria in a
multitude of ways. And that makes honey a strong option for the treatment of drug-resistant wound
infections.

The idea that honey has antimicrobial properties is nothing
new. In fact, traditional therapies containing honey were used in the topical
treatment of wounds by numerous ancient civilizations. Professor Cooper is
particularly interested in the super bug-fighting potential of manuka honey,
which comes from nectar collected by honey bees foraging on the manuka tree in
New Zealand.

Although manuka honey is found in modern wound-care products
sold around the world, the anti-infection properties of the honey have not been
used much by mainstream medicine. According to a press statement, Professor
Cooper's group believes this is because the mechanisms of the honey's germ
zapping action haven't been known. So they are working to document just how
manuka honey halts wound-infecting bacteria, including super bugs, on a
molecular level.

"Our findings with streptococci
and pseudomonads suggest that manuka honey can hamper the attachment of bacteria
to tissues which is an essential step in the initiation of acute infections. Inhibiting
attachment also blocks the formation of biofilms, which can protect bacteria
from antibiotics and allow them to cause persistent infections," explained
Professor Cooper in a media statement.

"Other work in our lab has shown that honey can make MRSA more
sensitive to antibiotics such as oxacillin -- effectively reversing antibiotic
resistance. This indicates that existing antibiotics may be more effective against drug-resistant
infections if used in combination with manuka honey."
The researchers believe their findings may increase the clinical use of manuka honey as doctors
are faced with the threat of diminishingly effective systemic antibiotics now
used to try and control wound infections. "We need innovative and effective ways
of controlling wound infections that are unlikely to contribute to increased
antimicrobial resistance," said Professor Cooper. "The use of a topical agent
(manuka honey) to eradicate bacteria from wounds is potentially cheaper and may
well improve antibiotic therapy in the future. This will help reduce the transmission of
antibiotic-resistant bacteria from colonized wounds to susceptible
patients."
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CATCH THE BUZZ

CATCH THE BUZZ - Pesticides & Pollinators - THE MEETING

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CATCH THE BUZZ

Beekeeping and Pollinator Groups Meet with EPA, Pesticide Industry, University Researchers

Submitted by Xerces Society

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PENSACOLA, Fla. (January 24, 2011) - Last week representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the pesticide industry met with university researchers, conservationists and beekeeping groups in Florida to discuss the way that pesticide risks to bees are evaluated. The conference, which was organized by the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), is considered by U.S. government agencies and industry-watchers to be the first step in evaluating whether current guidelines on measuring pesticide toxicity are effective. Currently, the EPA only evaluates pesticide toxicity to honey bees, while bumble bees and other crop-pollinating bee species are given no consideration. Beekeeping groups have also questioned the validity of the existing honey bee hazard evaluation process in the U.S., and have pushed the agency to develop stricter standards in the wake of highly publicized bee deaths. Previous SETAC conferences have reviewed the pesticide risk standards to wildlife such as fish and birds, resulting in more stringent requirements on the part of manufacturers. This was the first SETAC conference focused specifically on bees. "We are generally pleased with the increased intensity of pesticide screening that was discussed, as well as the inclusion of non-honey bee species in the testing process," said Mace Vaughan, Pollinator Program Director at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, who attended the conference. "We hope that this will lead the EPA to adopt more thorough risk management strategies for pollinators." Pollinators have been the focus of several conservation initiatives spearheaded by the Xerces Society and beekeeping groups in recent years, who point out that the ecological service bees, butterflies and other pollinators provide is necessary for the reproduction of more than 70 percent of the world's plants. This includes two-thirds of the world's crop species, whose fruits and seeds together provide over thirty percent of the foods that we consume. Dramatic declines of both wild and domesticated bees have resulted in a growing awareness of threats such as habitat loss, diseases and pesticide use. "It is vitally important that the EPA better address the impact that these toxic substances have on honey bees and native bees," said Zac Browning of the American Beekeeping Federation, who also attended the conference. "Adoption of the final recommendations from this workshop, which are expected in the next several months, is a good first step. But much more will need to be done to truly protect these important pollinators." In the U.S. alone, more than 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides are applied annually. Penn State researchers have identified traces of more than eighty different pesticide products in nearly all honey bee hives they examine, with several of these compounds being implicated in bee deaths. SOURCE: http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2011.01.25.13.30.archive.html

Origins of Honey

Honey is an organic, natural sugar alternative with no additives that is easy on the stomach, adapts to all cooking processes, and has an indefinite shelf-life.

Honey history

Honey is as old as written history, dating back to 2100 B.C. where it was mentioned in Sumerian and Babylonian cuneiform writings, the Hittite code, and the sacred writings of India and Egypt. It is presumably even older than that.

Its name comes from the English hunig, and it was the first and most widespread sweetener used by man.Legend has it that Cupid dipped his love arrows in honey before aiming at unsuspecting lovers.

In the Old Testament of the Bible, Israel was often referred to as “the land of milk and honey.”  Mead, an alcoholic drink made from honey was called “nectar of the gods,” high praise indeed.
Honey was valued highly and often used as a form of currency, tribute, or offering. In the 11th century A.D., German peasants paid their feudal lords in honey and beeswax.

Although experts argue whether the honeybee is native to the Americas, conquering Spaniards in 1600 A.D. found native Mexicans and Central Americans had already developed beekeeping methods to produce honey.
In days of old, honey has been used not only in food and beverages, but also to make cement, in furniture polishes and varnishes, and for medicinal purposes.
And, of course, bees perform the vital service of pollinating fruits, legumes, vegetables and other types of food-producing plants in the course of their business of honey production. (from, about.com)

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