From: "beekeep" <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 6:59 PM
Subject: Re: apitherapyOn Wed, 31 Oct 2001 07:00:56 -0700, "Allen Dick"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>> I have shipped bees to over 2000 people with MS and have never heard
>> of this problem.
>
>That's a large sample of people.  Are you in personal contact with some or
>all of them?  Is there a mailing list?

My wife talks to them, I take care of the beekeeping end.  I get along
better with the bees than people. :)  Our mailing list is our most
prized asset.  We protect our customers privacy and give it to no one.

>Seems to me that it should be possible to assemble some kind of tabulated
>statistical study of those who try it, those who keep with it, and out of
>all those people, those who claim it works and those who don't.  Moreover
if
>there are adverse effects, they should assert themselves visibly somewhere
>in such a large group.

The American Apitherapy Society should have done this but it is very
poorly run.  <deleted>

>Also seems to me that the official study being done in the US is employing
>injections of either trapped bee venom or extracts with a syringe, rather
>than examining what is already being done by practitioners.  If so, what is
>being studied is different in several ways from what apitheripists and
>self-treated users of bee stings claim to be effective.  This concerns me,
>since the study may be barking up a wrong tree.

You are absolutely correct.  The problem is that there is no money in
bee stings for the medical profession so they are not interested.

>Is there any large scientific attempt to tabulate empirical data on MS and
>bee stings?

The only study that I have heard of is one being done by GW
University.  It is only looking at the safety of BVT.

To get a true understanding of the problem you have to realize that
the medical profession has not cured anything since polio.  They now
come up with treatments that require the patient to come back over and
over for prescriptions.  No prescriptions are required for bees so
even if it worked they would not be interested.

beekeep
Greg Ferris
Ferris Apiaries