Bob Harrison said:

> Several beekeepers have told me the antibiotic was used
> in the production of beet sugar

   I'm all ready for some 30-odd folks (some odder
   than others) to show up for Easter feasting and
   merriment, so I can answer this one...

That was a >>>DIFFERENT<<< chemical found in Chinese honey.
That was "Chlordimeform", rather than "Chloramphenicol".

I was responsible for making the original statement about
"sugar beets" in regard to Chlordimeform to a person who
shall remain nameless, but would never have gotten his
chemical names mixed up.  I was asked what I knew about
Chlordimeform by this person a while ago.  (I forget exactly when.)

Others hearing/repeating the story over time may have confused
their chemicals, an understandable error, given the wide variety
of unusual chemicals found in honey from China over the years.  :)

Here is the official source document:

http://www.fda.gov/ora/fiars/ora_import_ia9908.html

Do a search within the web page for "honey", and you'll
see that quite a few cases of Chlordimeform contamination
were detected in the 1990s in honey from China.

This escaped most people's notice.
Dunno why.
Chlordimeform is nasty.
A carcinogen.

Chlordimeform is a very old pesticide, one that was
banned most places in the 1970s.  It is hard to imagine
the resurrection of such a chemical purely for apiary use,
I offered (and still offer) three possible scenarios:

a) China may have stumbled upon a warehouse that had
   some "old stock".

b) China may have simply bought some from either
   Ciba Geigy (Switzerland) or Schering AG (Germany).
   It appears that both companies started making
   this known carcinogen and selling it to
   "third world nations" under the trade names
   "Galecron" and "Fundal".  (No idea why.)

c) China may have made their own - it would not be
   hard to make.

While such a pesticide might be (mis)used in an attempt
to control bee mites, it would not work very well, and
therefore, would not be "popular" with beekeepers, let
alone a chemical that might be used enough to show up
in massive shipments of honey.

But one is forced to wonder how it got in the honey.
Elementary, my dear Watson - think of what Chlordimeform
was GOOD for...

The single most popular use for chlordimeform when it
was in common use was to combat "spider mites" on sugar
beets. It was very effective against these very common
pests of sugar beets.

My conclusion was (and still is) that the chlordimeform
was NOT used on honey bee colonies, but was instead used
on sugar beets in China to fight spider mites, and showed
up in "honey" only because the "honey" was, ummm...

  ...not pure honey.


                        jim  (who works the day shift at the
                        Idea Factory, even on some holidays)

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