3 Reasons to Stop Eating Honey

“Unique among all God’s creatures, only the honeybee improves the environment and preys not on any other species.” ~ Royden Brown

From the basil plant a strong hum sounds, soft wings vibrate the air, endlessly searching for nectar. To truly watch these amazing creatures plunder and absent-mindedly pollinate these tiny white flowers makes one wonder how such a small creature could make such a large difference in our lives.

Yet without the humble bee:

-The food on your table.
-The flowers in your garden.
-The clothes on your back.

Might just disappear.

Bees* pollinate nearly 80% of all fruit, vegetable and seed crops in the U.S. We may be able to spray noxious fertilizers and pesticides on plants to “rid” ourselves of some problems (and create new ones). But we have yet to create a chemical that can successfully pollinate large crops. Nonetheless, we have still created an agricultural system that is in danger of killing one of its strongest contributors, in the pursuit of easy pollination and honey.

We’ve been tricked into believing that honey is simply a byproduct of the essential pollination provided by farmed honeybees. Did you know though that the honeybee’s wild counterparts (such as bumblebees, carpenter and digger bees) are much better pollinators? They are also less likely than farmed honeybees to be affected by mites and Africanized bees. The issue is that these native bees can hibernate for up to 11 months out of the year and do not live in large colonies. Thus, they do not produce massive amounts of honey. Enter the $157 million dollar a year honey industry and three reasons you should stop eating honey today.

*Although there are numerous species of bees that pollinate flowers/crops, this job has been disproportionately taken over by farmed honeybees.

Next: Three reasons to stop eating honey.

~Photograph by Alisa Rutherford-Fortunati

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Dale O.

6:47PM PDT on Apr 19, 2012

While I am at it should the local bear populace be encouraged to stop ripping apart the hives and eat other alternatives? Just asking. And now Dr. Mercola is telling us not to eat whole grains and rice along with other vegan staples because it affects our mental health (!?) or adds to obesity...go figure if I am looking for an alternative to meat now I am not even supposed to eat whole grains...and now we should not touch honey!

send a green star

6:36PM PDT on Apr 19, 2012

Intriguing...bee slavery? Give me a break...
Love honey and will always eat it. No matter what we humans, animals, fish, chickens, bacteria or whatever life on earth exists--we survive by ingesting something living being or product of that living organism.
Well vegans if you can design a system where life on the planet can exist without ingesting something living or the by product of the living then let me know about it--til then I will keep putting honey in my tea and eating my deck of card sized portions of meat and picking the odd flower every now and then and munching on a few dandelion leaves while I am at it--heaven forbid, I just killed the dandelion picking the root to roast for "coffee!" I am a criminal!

Dee H.

10:52PM PDT on Mar 21, 2012

Pesticides on plants = pesticides in honey? Never thought of that before and it makes sense.

Thank you for this!

Cutter T.

3:17PM PDT on Mar 12, 2012

the same people you're trying to gross out by defining honey as 'regurgitated vomit mixed with spit' eat cheese, defined as 'fermented nipple pus'. i think it's a silly tactic. find better reasons to encourage people not to eat honey. i'd rather support a home honey business than big agriculture any day.

Jackson Z.

6:34PM PST on Mar 3, 2012

If we're going to talk about this "true story of production" crap, I'm going to start alerting people that every time they eat a piece of fruit, they're eating a sex organ. I'm starting with four because I'm moving backwards.

This article gives literally no convincing reasons to give up honey. Page four is there for gross-out factor and nothing more (Why is the fact that bees regurgitate nectar to make it into honey something that makes honey inedible? What's wrong with that? Your only answer is "ewww" and it doesn't make sense. Sex organ, remember?)

Page three is about reasons bee colonies are suffering and has nothing to do with eating honey.

Page two works I guess if you're an animal rightsist, but as I have not arbitrarily decided that killing animals for food production is only moral when a grain combine does it, it doesn't matter to me.

Page one seems to try making the case that honeybee farming has some huge negative effect on big agriculture. Big agriculture is problematic whether there are farmed bees involved or not, and you're supporting them far more by buying their vegetables than you are their honey. So why aren't you targeting vegetables? Oh yeah, vegan. That's right.

Samantha B .

2:50PM PST on Feb 10, 2012

What about beeswax? I try to avoid it but it is in so many health and beauty products.

Does anyone know more about it?

Thanks!

Russell R.

2:40PM PST on Feb 9, 2012

Definition of Honey - regurgitated vomit, mixed with spit

Michele S.

6:27AM PST on Feb 9, 2012

Support local beekeepers. Just inquire about their practices before you buy.

Deborah H.

5:45AM PST on Feb 9, 2012

Great article, however, it amazes me the extremes that people will go to in order to say that we should us no animal byproduct at all. Should Bees be harmed? No! No animals should be abused in processing for human consumption. However, to get Biblical...it was in Genesis, directly after the flood that God offered us all the animals on the earth for nourishment. Prior to this he offered us the plants...I believe that if people want to eat these products they should be able to do so without being made to feel horribly guilty and disgusting for it. As for the abuse of bees, I do agree buying from natural bee farmers is the way to go, just like I choose to buy free range eggs, free range chicken and beef etc.

Anne P.

7:32AM PST on Feb 4, 2012

My father, grandfather and great-grandfather all kept bees in their home gardens in Germany. I carried on the tradition by learning beekeeping from my former husband, who has a small home honey and beeswax business. I would spend hours sitting quietly and observing the hives. Honeybees are fascinating creatures and as an ethical vegan, I came to the realization that it is wrong to steal their hard-earned honey, wax, propolis or royal jelly for my own selfish needs. I have found organic raw agave syrup to be an ideal replacement for honey in cooking and baking.