It is sometimes stated that beekeepers live longer than other people—because they eat honey, or for some other reason. It has also been suggested that beekeepers suffer less from cancer, as a result of repeatedly being stung by bees. Actuarial figures have been notably absent, but members of the staff of the Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA, have now made a mortality study of what they call occupationally exposed beekeepers. 

They did this by locating obituary notices published in American Bee Journal and Gleanings in Bee Culture between 1949 and 1978, and in The Speedy Bee 1971-1978. The death certificates were examined of all 580 USA beekeepers whose deaths were reported, and causes of mortality—and proportionate mortality ratios—were compared with those for the general population of the USA. 

For the 520 males, the only significant difference (P<0·05) for any malignancy as cause of death was that 14 beekeepers died as a result of malignant tumours in the respiratory system, whereas 24 would be expected on the basis of figures for the general population. No other site of cancer showed a significant difference from the general figure, nor did the total number dying from cancer. 

One hazard killed significantly more men beekeepers than the figure for the general population-accidents: 32 out of 520, whereas only 19 would be expected. Many of the 32 men died after a road accident, but one beekeeper suffered fatal burns when smoking his bees, and another was asphyxiated when he used a plastic bag to protect his face from stings.

Bee world Volume 62 Number 4 1981

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