Kim Flottum (who prints his magazine with soy ink on recycled paper) said: > ...for any beekeeper wishing to produce organic honey. > Simply put, it becomes a chicken/egg problem....to raise > organic honey, you need organic bees that must be raised > on organic beewax comb, and only organic bees can produce > organic beeswax. The "organic standards" are a fine idea... for plant crops. But I don't think that any beekeeper who thinks about it for more than a minute would agree that an "organic honey" program is a good idea for the US honey "industry". (Yes, this week on "What Happens After What Comes Next?" we again explore the blindingly obvious in excruciating detail, by taking facts and banging them against other facts...) The attempt to force-fit "organic" standards into beekeeping is a hand grenade tossed at the basic concept of "pure honey". If only a small percentage of honey can be labeled "organic", then what's the consumer forced to conclude about ALL OTHER honey? Worse yet, the current implementation of the "organic" standards is "Broken As Designed" (or, as we like to call such things here at the lab, "B.A.D."). There is simply no possible way for any "organic" beekeeper to know if anyone within the foraging range of his or her hives is using a pesticide, herbicide, or other "nasty thing" at any point in time. All he can do is hope. It follows that at some point in the near future, honey labeled "organic" will be tested by a lab, found to be "contaminated" at some parts-per-billion or parts-per-trillion level, resulting in the usual "investigative journalism" scare-mongering. Needless to say, the unlucky producer with his label on the bottle will have his organic certification, threatened, and will be tainted with a hint of scandal for the rest of his days. And so will all the rest of us. The producer at issue will also have the highly dubious honor of pointing out that he strictly complied with the requirements of the organic program, so any actual contamination found does not render his honey unfit for the "organic" label. About 30 seconds after this statement stops echoing around the room, the entire "organic honey" program will suddenly disappear in a cloud of greasy black smoke. But even though the rules as defined do nothing to completely assure uncontaminated honey, the rules unfairly exclude some beekeepers who might be able to meet the same requirements if more specific wording were used. For example, there is a golf course within the foraging range of my bees. Never mind that it is a small municipal golf course that has never had a budget for herbicides or pesticides and never will. The mere fact that it is a "golf course" means that I cannot ever be considered for "organic" certification if I keep my hives within foraging range of it. In my specific case, there are other nearby land uses that also prevent me from meeting the "organic" standards, but I'll bet that there is a non-trivial number of beekeepers who might able able to certify as "organic" if not for the (generally accurate) assumptions made in the organic standards about the connection between specific land uses and possible contaminants. As currently worded, the organic standards for honey are nothing but a lawsuit waiting to happen. I'd guess that handing the standards to a judge and mentioning the "Equal Protection" clause of the 14th amendment to the US (as it applies to state laws) and the "due process" requirement of the 5th amendment (as it applies to federal laws) ought to be an easy slam-dunk. Bottom line, "organic" should not be allowed as an adjective used as a modifier for "honey", since the "Organic Program" as currently implemented merely describes a set of "best practices" that cannot assure a final product free of detectable contamination. If we simply leave well enough alone, we have a product that consistently tests at higher purity levels than any other food product. Honey is perceived as "organic" by definition, and we should not allow anyone, including a government agency, to suggest otherwise. jim (Who is still searching for a customer of an "Organic Food Store" who does not resemble an extra from "Night Of The Living Dead") :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::