Vegans, do you eat honey?!
Honey is NOT VEGAN. It's an animal product, it requires the exploitation of bees.
The simple fact is that the bees are enslaved. What? Bees slaves? Yes, bees as slaves. Or it's dominionism, exploitation of nature, human superiority, whatever you like to call it. It's the idea that humans are justified in using all other life forms instrumentally, for our own benefit. As Alice Walker said, "The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men." (I would also add that plants and the earth were not made for humans either.) What follows is a look at specifically how honeybees are exploited by humans. Note that this follows precisely the same pattern of animal exploitation that vegans seek to end for other species.
When manipulating the bees, most beekeepers use a smoker to maintain control and to prevent some stings. The smoke gets the bees to gorge themselves on honey, which calms them down. The smoke probably also masks the alarm pheromone that the guard bees release and prevents the entire colony from becoming agitated.
During the fall and winter a mouse guard is often placed over the entrance to the hive. Usually, the bees drag their dead out of the hive, but the mouse guard often prevents this from happening. Beekeepers are warned, "it is helpful to remove any pileup of dead bees behind the mouse guard once or twice during the winter"
You may have the impression that since the bees are not fenced in like cattle, they are free to leave if they wanted to. Read about swarming to understand why this common misperception is false.
Beekeepers will naturally deny that they are slave owners who steal the products of the bees' labor. They will tell you that they are working with the bees to help them reach their full potential, which just happens to be measured in honey output. (Hmm, remind anyone of recombinant bovine growth hormone?) In addition to being horribly paternalistic, the beekeeper's perspective makes little sense. Under natural conditions, if the hive were producing a surplus, they would divide into two colonies and there would be none wasted. Nonetheless, it is important to regard beekeepers as potential allies. They are often more aware of environmental concerns than other people and may truly care about their bees. A few simple changes in their attitudes would likely make their behavior acceptable to vegans, although making those changes is not a simple thing. They would need to stop regarding themselves as beeKEEPERS.
Answers: No. nonononononono.
Honey is NOT VEGAN. It's an animal product, it requires the exploitation of bees.
The simple fact is that the bees are enslaved. What? Bees slaves? Yes, bees as slaves. Or it's dominionism, exploitation of nature, human superiority, whatever you like to call it. It's the idea that humans are justified in using all other life forms instrumentally, for our own benefit. As Alice Walker said, "The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men." (I would also add that plants and the earth were not made for humans either.) What follows is a look at specifically how honeybees are exploited by humans. Note that this follows precisely the same pattern of animal exploitation that vegans seek to end for other species.
When manipulating the bees, most beekeepers use a smoker to maintain control and to prevent some stings. The smoke gets the bees to gorge themselves on honey, which calms them down. The smoke probably also masks the alarm pheromone that the guard bees release and prevents the entire colony from becoming agitated.
During the fall and winter a mouse guard is often placed over the entrance to the hive. Usually, the bees drag their dead out of the hive, but the mouse guard often prevents this from happening. Beekeepers are warned, "it is helpful to remove any pileup of dead bees behind the mouse guard once or twice during the winter"
You may have the impression that since the bees are not fenced in like cattle, they are free to leave if they wanted to. Read about swarming to understand why this common misperception is false.
Beekeepers will naturally deny that they are slave owners who steal the products of the bees' labor. They will tell you that they are working with the bees to help them reach their full potential, which just happens to be measured in honey output. (Hmm, remind anyone of recombinant bovine growth hormone?) In addition to being horribly paternalistic, the beekeeper's perspective makes little sense. Under natural conditions, if the hive were producing a surplus, they would divide into two colonies and there would be none wasted. Nonetheless, it is important to regard beekeepers as potential allies. They are often more aware of environmental concerns than other people and may truly care about their bees. A few simple changes in their attitudes would likely make their behavior acceptable to vegans, although making those changes is not a simple thing. They would need to stop regarding themselves as beeKEEPERS.
Although honey falls under the category of "produced by animals", because bees dont actually create honey out of nothing using their bodies, I think vegans are safe. Very strict vegans could argue that they dont want to eat honey due to their restrictions. This would ignore the purpose of being a vegan in the first place, to not consume animal products like milk, eggs, and meat etc.
Vegan do but not fruitarian & rawfoodist like me. Do you want to eat something who went to the mouth of thousand bees?
To bee, or not to bee. Those folks that keep this nonsense going ...will not be.
(But they will love to give me the thumbs down without even knowing the facts involved. Just watch. Also, I just read a scientific report indicating that at least certain plants "reacted" negatively to pruning and extraction of fluids. I can't remember for sure, but I thought the agave plant was on that list. A terrible situation if true. My, oh my!)
Vegans don't eat honey because it comes from an animal. The idea that bees are harmed in the process is absurd. The bees are these people's livelihood and they take care of them. Where did anyone read that bees are harmed? Veger sites??
It's ironic that vegans won't eat honey but it's ok to transport the bees from state to state to pollinate the crops though. Never did understand that double standard.
Bees are currently in serious decline due to parasitic and viral diseases. I was talking on here yesterday about pesticides killing the bees but research I've done today has shown that may not be true.
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/...
Thanks to Maggie for sharing this link with me! :-)
Hey veganark-----how come you don't mention about the bees being exploited by moving them from state to state to pollinate the crops for your produce?? Did you notice the definition of vegan on that site too? It doesn't say "as far as is possible and practical" like it says at the vegan society website. Are the vegan definition and the honey article both right or both wrong?
Of course vegans cannot eat honey. Think about it. One might just as well drink milk.
Not now.In childhood I did.
I wouldn't be vegan if I ate honey.
The honeybee does not belong on this continent. They are alien species from Europe. Their use has been responsible for a dramatic loss of biodiversity as they were always favored over native bees that did not produce any material goods.
I don't see any room for debate.
No.