BEES

MELANIE HICKERSON

BEES

I have used bee stings or bee venom therapy to successfully treat my arthritis.

The American Apitherapy Association lists articles and research on many applications of bee products for treatments of various conditions and diseases, usually autoimmune diseases and multiple sclerosis. Evidence of apitherapy goes back thousands of years to ancient Greece, China and Egypt, at least.

 The domestic honey bee has a bond and history with humanity. The metaphors associated with this insect speak to the needs for the future for this landscape.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a phenomenon in which worker bees from a European honey bee colony abruptly disappear. While such disappearances have occurred throughout the history of apiculture, and were known by various names (disappearing disease, spring dwindle, May disease, autumn collapse, and fall dwindle disease), the syndrome was renamed colony collapse disorder in late 2006 in conjunction with a drastic rise in the number of disappearances of Western honeybee colonies in North America. European beekeepers observed similar phenomena while the Northern Island Assembly received reports of a decline greater than 50%.
Colony collapse is significant economically because many agricultural crops worldwide are pollinated by European honey bees.  Shortages of bees in the US have increased the cost to farmers renting them for pollination services by up to 20%.
-Wikipedia