Bee World, a quarterly journal

Apitherapy is one of the fastest growing areas of interest among beekeepers worldwide. Beekeepers are interested in the techniques that they can use to produce honey bee hive products such as beeswax, honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly and venom. Naturally the efficient production of large quantities is important, but so is the purity of the products obtained. In recent years, medical problems such as pathogen resistance to antibiotics have caused a renewed interest in the medicinal use of hive products, long used in folklore and traditional medicine, allowing them to take their place among the modern armoury of drugs. Whilst many scientific studies have shown efficacy and safety, many other claims that have been made lack scientific credibility. As with any drug of biological origin, a thorough understanding of the mode of action, and the standardisation of concentration of the active ingredients, together with standardisation of testing methods, are essential. The fact that reports of the efficacy of hive products are often anecdotal, and have hitherto been published in a wide array of journals, books and ephemeral literature, has arguably slowed the acceptance of the use of hive products in “conventional” medicine. This talk will review recent advances in the production of hive products, and attempts at standardisation of research methods and quality evaluation. The forthcoming Volume 3 of the already established COLOSS BEEBOOK will further encourage the use of standard methods.

An interview with Dr. Peter Molan, conducted during my visit to New Zealand in June 2010.