> A friend writes off-list regarding a bee repellant product, "Wish someone would ask him whether he can *prove* that HIS bee products have zero chemicals".  Interesting question but I'm not sure what that means. Chemicals is a loaded word for many.

I think the writer is referring to Bee-Quick.  Funny he'd ask you, rather than email me or a dealer, as I distill it.  Please forgive/Ignore the product plugs. 

Clearly "no chemicals" would be hard, as everything (at least the 5% of the mass of the universe we can detect) can be described in terms of "chemicals".  But I think the question is over the use natural plant-sourced materials in stills vs simply mixing synthetic hazardous materials rated chemicals that come in 55-gallon drums.

The simplest thing to do would be to ask about the product's approval for use in USDA Organic Honey production, which has been in place since the mid-2000s.  If one was still unsatisfied, one could ask about the organic certification for the plant material ingredients that are distilled. 

There have been several opportunists who have made cheap knock-offs, claiming things like "all natural", which is a term that has no good definition, and is thus misused.  There are "natural" and "synthetic" versions of many chemicals, and the natural versions are expensive enough to expose the misleading use of the term "natural", as the price the knock-off artists would pay for the natural versions of their chemicals would exceed the retail price they charge, and be very hard to source in today's pandemic-limited "wacky supply-chain" world.  So, it is clear that they are all using synthetics, more specifically the cheaper versions that come from China or from India, who mostly resells Chinese-sourced materials, which introduces significant risk that can only be reduced via stringent and expensive acceptance testing.  Just google "Melamine China" to learn about baby formula (2008), pet food (2007), and other bulk commodity items sourced from China that turned out to be not at all what they were claimed.

Another big hunk of evidence is the wholesale price.  Ask any dealer, I've never raised the wholesale price a single penny since 1999.  Nothing else in beekeeping has ever held a price stable for so long.  My solar array means I don't have a power bill, which is a very big factor when one distills something, and when hurricane Sandy and tropical storm Irene each forced me to rebuild both solar array and stills "from scratch", I became more efficient, lowering batch times, and replacing very expensive mechanical steam-pressure control and safety equipment with more modern industrial control products.

But someone seeking proof of something should directly seek the proof, rather than engaging in disparagement without even asking question one.


 

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