Under 'wax foundation' , Keith said: "> do I think the standard medical
community would open itself up to
liability  by accessing these materials simply by slathering patients in
honey?" and Karen commented "that is where the main problem in using this
will lie.  Even if honey were a
better solution, no hospital would allow it, unless their insurance company
first OK'd it and guaranteed coverage for the lawsuits that followed (and
who would pay for the extra ant treatments or keeping flies away from the
wound dressings?)."

This has moved on from wax foundation, so this post is re-headed 'Honey and
Healing'.

The IBRA report , Honey and Healing, still needs a comprehensive review by a
qualified peson to help this list , as so many of the constant quibbles are
dealt with by the scientists there.  Let me restrict corrections to just a
few points:
1  On 'simply slathering patients in honey', the work was carried out by
qualified people in proper hospitals in civilised countries and this
constant disparagement simply shows the small town parochial atitudes that
can exist within the bee world.

2  On attracting flies, such hospitals do not need to pay extra to keep ants
and flies away, or even honeybees - hospitals in UK, The Netherlands and
Australia someow manage to attain standards of hygiene that keep insects out
as standard practice - perhaps to stop the doctors' sandwiches geting eaten.

3 On legal risks of using honey on patients, "honey cannot be called a
medecine...in wound care, honey can be registered as a ...medical device (as
is a pacemaker). Wound dressings such as Opsite and Duoderm are classified
as medical devices.  Since July 1999, Medihoney (100% honey) - but not any
honey - has been registered in Australia as a primary dressing to treat
wounds.  'Honeysoft' (a neutral carrier and soft honey within a patented
plaster) '  is being tested in hospitals in The Netherlands.  Mesitin is a
sterile mix of honey and lanolin, sunflower oil and zinc oxide similar to
Desitin which was registered in 1935 but the factory was closed by the war."

.....  Theo Postmes, Biomedical Research Foundation, Maastricht, The
Netherlands ends " The rediscovery of honey  ....and is registration as a
medical device,  will turn this 5000 year old folk remedy into a clinicaly
accepted wound dressing of today".  I presume a hospital cannot be faulted
in law, even in the US, just for using a registered medical device provided
the manufacturer's instructions are followed.

PLEASE will nobody come back asking if the Neverlands is another name for
Atlantis!  It really is time this list got a bit more up to date in its
information.  READ 'Honey and Healing'.

Robin Dartington

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