According to an earlier question, most vegans appose eating honey. Do you know how honey is produced?

Question

I'm vegan and I have raised my own honey for many years. It is not exploitation. Good beekeepers never take enough to hurt the bees. I saw someone say something about the production of honey killing bees, not true.

Did you know that honeybees would probably go extinct because of the verroa mite without beekeepers? Humans have been keeping honeybees for so long that they have developed a tight relationship. If we let the honeybees drop in population you can say good buy to allot of the fruit and veggies that you eat. Almost all almond production would stop.

Bee keeping is a gentle working with nature. You provide housing, protection from the mite, and sometimes even food in rough winters. The bee doesn't miss the small amount of honey that you take.

I know the technical definition of being vegan doesn’t allow the eating of honey but no vegan should feel guilty for eating it.

Dr. Thomas, Proff. of Entomology

Answer 1

Thank you for posting this.
I am an animal rights activist and I have mixed feelings about honey. On one hand, I can see the philosophy behind exploitaion and leaving nature to tend to itself.
On the other hand, my being vegan is to reduce as much suffering as possible. I have another animal activist friend that I've discussed honey with and we both agree...
Bees and insects have a very simple nervous system. It's not complicated enough to be aware of pain, only to form an immediate response. On the same note, considering central nervous systems, shellfish and sponges are not aware of pain.
To me, though, it's also about health reasons. Shellfish has a lot of cholesterol.
So my stance is varied. I avoid honey for the sake of clarity, but I won't go off myself if I accidentally eat some.
Thanks again for your topic. It's refreshing to have an intelletually stimulating post :)
Eve

Answer 2

As defined by the creator of the term vegan (Donald Watson): Veganism is a way of living which excludes all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, the animal kingdom, and includes a reverence for life. It applies to the practice of living on the products of the plant kingdom to the exclusion of flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, honey, animal milk and its derivatives, and encourages the use of alternatives for all commodities derived wholly or in part from animals (Stepaniak).

I got this from the site http://www.vegetus.org/honey/honey.htm , which more thoroughly explains the ethics of not eating honey. It explains how bees DO feel pain, are exploited to take away their natural food (honey), and even touches on the fact that honeybees used by most beekeepers are actually an introduced species to North America--the natural (mostly smaller) bees of North America have been displaced by which in some cases led to their extinction. Some of the wild and natural American bees are also apparently immune to some diseases that affect the European honeybees. These naturally present bees are actually better suited to pollinate most crops (especially indigenous crops) and would be able to if they were more protected from these "invaders" and over-use of toxic chemicals on crops.

Answer 3

It depends on why they are vegans. Most vegans I know are opposed (not apposed) to eating animal products because of care for animals' well beings. But, some vegans have other reasons (religion, taste, etc.) for not wanting to eat animal products. Honey is an animal product, so it would fit this description.

Vegans don't drink milk either, often because dairy cows are kept in deplorable conditions, but if I had a pet cow that I pampered and treated like a member of the family, and milked it, I still don't think a vegan would have a sip.

Answer 4

It's a personal choice, as everything else is. From what I've read some vegans do eat honey, but some prefer not to. It's a bit of a grey area with veganism. I would continue to eat it even if I did omit eggs from my diet and become vegan, but whether or not I would be seen as true vegan for eating honey I don't know. What's in a name anyway?

Answer 5

What's wrong with honey? Isn't honey essentially bee poo? Tastes okay to me. And I never heard anything about honey production being damaging to the honeybees. Vegans are weird.

Answer 6

Bees do not create honey; they are actually improving upon a plant product, nectar. The honey we eat is nectar that bees have repeatedly regurgitated and dehydrated. Basically, the honey bees create a sticky substance in their hives and beekeepers purify it.

Answer 7

honey is not wrong. killing animals to eat is. The produces Honey. animals dont "produce" meat. It's dumb that they can't eat honey.