Because we specialize in the use of bees as monitors of contaminants in
their surroundings, I decided that I had to make a comment.  I realize that
many will not like my comments.  First, let me stress that we have not
found any evidence that chemicals end up in the honey at levels that
jeopardize human health.  In fact, among the components of the hive, the
honey is often the cleanest product.  We see more evidence of gross
contamination of honey as a result of careless handling than from
environmental sources.
 
Overall, Andy Nachbaur hit the nail on the head:
 
I can assure you that for most there is NO WAY that you can produce 100%
clean honey no matter what you pay in additional taxes or what mountain top
you keep your bees on.  Bee hive products, including honey are
representative of the total environment and not just some micro area the
bees are reared in, so if there is a problem in the environment it will
show up in the bee hive and its products if you want to look at small
enough particles of the products, such as parts per billion, trillion.. NO
one know if these small amounts of contamination is bad or just natural in
organic foods.
 
As did Dr. Schuber:
 
Scientists have found out, that at a high contamination of wax, there is
a diffusion of those chemicals into the honey.
 
From our perspective:
 
One can take steps to reduce the exposure to chemicals, but you can't stop
entry into the hive if there is a problem.  And you don't have to spray or
have a neighbor who does.  We find traces of DDT and its breakdown products
everywhere, even in bees from remote parts of Montana.  We have never found
a bee that didn't have a trace of PCBs in its tissues.  Some pollutants are
global in distribution.  Also, years ago, we found that many organic
farmers in the west had bought cheap land (often old industrial sites).
Guess where we found the highest levels of environmental contaminants - in
the soils and air of the organic region?  The farmers didn't use chemicals,
but their predecessors had, and some of their neighboring industries were
still operating.
 
 
In Maryland, we have found over 200 volatile and semi-volatile chemicals in
the air inside a beehive.  Some of these are natural and come from the wood
of the hive, some are produced by the metabolics of the bees, some are from
the products in the hive, and some are environmental contaminants.  All of
our Maryland hives contain trace (parts per billion) amounts of industrial
solvents such as PCE (more commonly known as dry cleaning fluid) (and no,
none of these colonies are near a dry cleaner's).  All of our hives in
Maryland and Montana have traces of napthalene (you get it from burning
petroleum fuels).  But our Montana hives don't have PCEs in them.
 
 
Just how sensitive are bee colonies?  A couple of examples surprised even
us.  Because of our cold winters, we do not have wax moth problems in
Montana.  Leave the equipment outside and your wax moth is gone by spring.
So we never use PDB.  We transported bees in 1996 from Montana to Maryland.
 Within a few days, we found PDB in the hives at our rural Maryland
reference site.  The local beekeeper had fumigated his hives in January.
We picked up the PDB months later.  We also got a spike of HMF in our hives
in late summer.  We didn't feed, but colonies about 2 blocks away were fed
by the beekeeper.  He must have gotten a bad batch.  He feed using in-hive
feeders and did not have any sick or dead out colonies.  Yet, our colonies
picked up the HMF contaminant from the feeder syrup and we found it in the
air inside the beehives.
 
Last year, we published a paper in the Journal of Environmental Quality
tracing the emissions from Phosphate Fertilizer plants over more than 80
miles.  And in 1985, we published maps of arsenic and cadmium distribution
in the Tacoma, Seattle, Whidbey Island area of Puget Sound in the state of
Washington.  Again, the transport of contaminants extended over entire
landscapes.
 
Some years ago, a study in Connecticut found traces of several different
pesticides in every bee sample taken from 22 colonies, and all but a few
also had PCBs (and their instruments lacked the detection levels that we
can now accomplish).
 
 
Having said all of this, I still agree with Andy.  We really don't know
know whether traces of many of these chemicals have any real meaning in
terms of risks to the bees or to human health.  We also know that honey
generally is as clean or cleaner than other produce (e.g., vegetables)
growing in the same areas (whether organic or not).
I can't say the same for the bees themselves, pollen, wax, or propolis.  It
should not be any surprise that the forage bee picks up contaminants.  Wax
acts as a sink and can hold on the chemicals for years, maybe even decades.
 We suspect the same is true for propolis.  Pollen is particularly
susceptible to contamination from dust blowing around.  And, the air inside
the hive reflects everything in or on the bees and anything that they bring
into the hives.
 
 
The best anyone can do is to try to reduce the chemical exposure.  But
unless you want to engage in some expensive chemical analyses, you will
never know what your bees are picking up in minute quantities from unknown
sources.
 
Organic Honey is an impossible goal if you mean honey or any bee product
that is totally free from human produced chemicals.  More organic than
someone else who uses chemicals (i.e., pesticides, antibiotics), maybe.  It
all depends on the past history  of the area (e.g., old orchards in most of
the more industrialized countries used arsenic and lead based insecticides
before WW II - and we still see this legacy in our samples), wind patterns,
neighbors, nearby industries, and MOST IMPORTANTLY how you handle your own
products.
 
 
Jerry J. Bromenshenk, Ph.D.
Director, DOE/EPSCoR & Montana Organization for Research in Energy
The University of Montana-Missoula
Missoula, MT  59812-1002
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel:  406-243-5648
Fax:  406-243-4184