email: [log in to unmask]
 
 
On Thu, 10 Jul 1997, p.munn wrote:
 
> Dear all,
> Discussion of honey contaminated with insecticide or mineral oil must
> have been buzzing around in the back of my head last night when I was
> reading a gardening mag and came across a description of a species
> called 'Aconitum' that said almost as an afterthought 'all parts of
> the plant are highly poisonous'. Does that mean the nectar too? I
> asked myself. And if the bees take it, is the poison altered at all, or rendered
> harmless within the hive? Does it remain as a trace?
> The only poisonous plant I've ever had in my garden is the foxglove.
> These grow wild in the British countryside and the bumble bees make
> an awful racket in their long, tubular flowers, so they're definitely
> visited by bees (although I've never actually seen a honeybee in
> one).
> Does anyone know anything about this subject? There are quite a lot
> of plants whose poisonous parts include the flowers, yet I've never
> heard of anyone dying from a poisoned batch of honey. There are
> plenty of references to death and/or madness ensuing from other kinds
> of food that have become contaminated. Two examples that come to mind
> are ergot contamination of rye and corn cockle contamination of wheat
> (corn cockle is a poisonous weed of grainfields that has been almost
> eradicated in Britain). Honey, however, only ever seems to be
> contaminated in the course of the human processing that takes place
> after it leaves the hive - by overheating, for example, or (in the
> days of skep hives) over-sulphuring. I would love to hear what all
> you knowledgable beekeepers have to say about the possibility of
> 'natural' contamination since I'm a very novice beekeeper and still
> don't properly understand what the bees get up to inside the hive.
>
> Penny Munn
>
 
 
Hi Penny and B-Liners
 
My ancient ABC and XYZ of Beekeeping refers to poisonous honey being used
as a form of chemical warfare in 400BC in an ancient country on the Black
Sea. Apparently Rhododendron Honey , collected from hives! was used to
render 10000 soldiers senseless for a day or two.
 
The same ABC and XYZ refers to Mountain Laurel (Kalma latifolia) honey as
being poisonous. Apparently 15 pounds were analyzed but no poisonous
substance was identified. However when some of the honey was consumed it
produced a tingling in the feet and toes; then difficulty in standing '
followed by a severe headache.
 
It is advised to test the honey by first feeding it to a dog and observing
its behaviour.
 
Refer to the 1972 ABC and XYZ of Beekeeping, A I ROOT CO.    pp511 -512
 
regards to the List
 
Peter Wilson
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada