What are the ethical reasons for vegans to avoid honey?

Question

I'm just curious, I understand ever other aspect of why to become vegan (milk supports veal and is essentially rape, eggs is cruel to the chickens and many male chicks are killed, etc) but what is the ethical reason to not eat honey? Is there something cruel about the ways the bees are treated? Serious answers only please, no 'anti-vegan' people.

Answer 1

I am a lifelong vegetarian and only recently learned of this ethical dilemma when it comes to eating honey. The idea is that we are taking something from the bees that belongs to them and thus making them either work harder or do without, both potentially harmful and unethical things. That the bees try to stop you from taking the fruits of their labor is given as evidence of harm possibly being done. A beekeeper also uses smoke to tranquilize the bees, kills the queen bees on a regular basis to essentially maintain control over the hive, artificially inseminates another one, incites bees to sting out of fear and thus die, and otherwise manipulates these anthropod animals to produce the nutrient rich honey for humans while feeding the bees a pure sugar diet. This is contrary to the basic vegan philosophy that animals should not be exploited or tortured simply to provide us pleasure. Please see the source below for more details on this. Thank you for asking.

Answer 2

I am a vegan in training, and I don't buy honey but I can't say that I'm at the point where I don't ever consume it. I too have had questions about the ethical reasons related to honey production and consumption.

In addition to the concerns over taking the food that bees have produced, there are concerns that the bees are raised in an inhumane way- namely that they are overbred to supply sufficient numbers for a colony, and that they lived in excessively confined spaces (though I don't know how true this is, because in the wild the cell sizes appear (to me) to be pretty similar, and that many are left to die after they have outlived their "usefulness." Since all the workers are females and essentially daughters of the queen, there are also difficulties with maintaining their genetic diversity, and so many suffer from diseases and are destroyed; a side effect is the massive disappearance of bees in the last year which is driving up the price of produce (because many crops are now pollinated by travelling beekeepers) and honey.

I think if you visit some vegan sites they will have more information on why many vegans are ethically opposed to consuming honey.

btw- not that I am convinced by gross-out arguments, but honey is essentially concentrated bee vomit; however, given that bees pretty much only eat nectar and pollen, it is pretty much just sugar and protein.

Answer 3

Vegans believe its not just whether the animal gets hurt in the process. Its also a question of "using" an animal for the food we can derive from it. Even if we could treat it perfectly humanely, the thought process is that by owning and using it at all, we are not giving it full respect as a being. So anything we get from an animal is not ok, including honey which is a by-product of the bee's work.

Answer 4

I'm not a vegan but I believe it has to do with keeping the bees for the only purpose of making honey, in other words having to work for people. I'm trying to understand the whole concept since people get so adamant about it, so I'm trying to keep an open mind.
I'll watch for more educated answers since this perplexes me. Bees naturally make honey, I mean they wouldn't be happier sitting in a recliner smoking a cigar unlike a cow being butchered for food which would be just fine grazing for the rest of it's life.

Answer 5

no longer ingesting honey is one reason i think of a few vegans ar loopy. human beings and bees the two earnings from honey production, including the financial pollenating of approximately one 0.33 of our flora. My opinion is that in case you do no longer consume honey then you certainly should not be ingesting any meals pollenated with the help of bees. this suggests apples any many different meals at the instant are not vegan for the reason that they're pollenated with the help of "slave bees" interior the wild maximum bee colonies have extensive die offs interior the wintry climate yet bee keepers artwork to maintain them healthful over the chilly situations and supply them substitute nutrition for the honey they take. in assessment to cows the honey isn't used to feed the extra youthful, Bees make yet another product, called bee bread from pollen and honey to feed the grubs. The honey harvested is for wintry climate nutrition. Honey manufacturers carry the bees to extra flora than might desire to locate from a non-cellular hive.

Answer 6

Bees make honey to eat-vegans feel that even though the beekeeper gives them sugar to eat it is against nature and is exploiting the bees. They also feel there may be substances in the honey necessary to bees that they are deprived of when it's harvested for human use.

Answer 7

They're exploiting the poor bees!

One assumes, therefore, they don't squash flies or mozzies, which probably causes more 'suffering' than smoking some bees to send them to sleep and nicking their honey, while inadvertently squashing a few. I mean, you can argue fish and what not have brains and can suffer, but *bees*?

It's ridiculous. The answer 'it's an animal and vegans don't use animal products' doesn't hold any water in my opinion because there's no reason I can see to avoid honey specifically apart from the sheer fact than bees are classed as animals.

Answer 8

There are no ethical considerations attached to food choices. Ethics belong to a higher realm of human activity. When you are in touch with your real ethical impact in human society, then you will stop obsessing about animals. It's not wrong--only NOT where it's at. There is a danger of replacing real ethical concerns with mere dietary laws. Oh, or are you 'perfect'?

Answer 9

Vegans do not believe it is right to enslave bees. Whatever. It is impossible for a person to be a member of modern society and avoid engaging in activities that routinely negatively affect animals. The house you are living in is depriving an ant of it's natural habitat.

Just do what feels right to yourself, and tell everyone else that thinks you are "wrong" to go f*ck themselves.

Answer 10

although it is a natural occurance, it still comes from a living creature. this is why vegetarians have so many different concepts of what is accepted.