> On Nov 20, 2013, at 9:00 AM, Christina Wahl <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> If it requires a factory to extract, purify, and concentrate a product from a plant or a mineral, it is no longer "organic" IMO.  There is evidence that the nature of the product changes dramatically, IMO, when it is manipulated to that extent.  
No. That is just flat chemically wrong.  If the molecules were changed in the processing then they would no longer have then same effect.  Process chemists choose conditions carefully and deliberately to maintain chemical structure and consequently function.

> However, when a chemist figures out that willow bark's active ingredient is salicylic acid, and then manufactures the compound in the lab and offers pure salicylic acid for sale, it is difficult for me to see that as "organic" or "natural" anymore.  Now it is simply "aspirin".
Though having nothing to do with beekeeping, that is wrong too. Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid. As I understand it, willow bark, with all the extra natural products, caused diarrhea when consumed in quantity.



Dr. Thomas Wiese
Hays, KS 67601
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