A presumably medical man wrote:
> I am seriously concerned about the effects that these small (hormetic)
>dosages will do to human beings (especially children and the elderly) who
>consume honey with copper residues that may accrue in honey from such
>"hormetic" treatments.
>   I believe that there is a real need to consider the risk involved at
>least until accredited laboratory testing is conducted to ascertain that
>there are no risks involved in consuming honey from colonies treated with
>any form of copper salts.  Are there any such studies?  If so, the public
>needs to know.

        My kind of Dr then treated us to an admirable mini-treatise on copper.

        As a former medical-school teacher of nutrition, I find it pleasing
that everything they say is OK by me (and that, unlike myself, they haven't
been personally attacked for sharing their knowledge).  Perhaps the
end-of-millenium raving has died down for another century or so.

        As Dr Jer says, copper is both essential for humans and also
capable of poisoning us if excessive dosages are absorbed.  It may be worth
noting that copper deficiency is more prevalent than excess, overall, in
many societies lately.  In this context, while agreeing fully that the
relevant assays should be performed as urged from Fla, I am not very
worried about possible copper poisoning from honey.  I would very much like
to see studies on the copper gluconate approach to differential poisoning
of bee mites, and such studies certainly should include assays of copper in
resulting honey (and appraisals of the significance of the resulting
figures).

        What bothers me most about all this is that what is on its face a
promising idea for mite control gets what we call in some non-yank parts of
the world 'bugger all' research funding, while some wild & dangerous
notions (in which some members of this list may have vested interests) get
huge funding.

R

-
Robt Mann
consultant ecologist
P O Box 28878   Remuera, Auckland 1005, New Zealand
                (9) 524 2949