Contribute to the Bees

In all sadness bees do not undergo fair treatment, listen to this from PETA:

Unfortunately, like factory farmers, many beekeepers take inhumane steps to ensure personal safety and reach production quotas. It is not unusual for larger honey producers to cut off the wings of the queen bee so that she cannot leave the colony, or to have her artificially inseminated on a bee-sized version of the factory farm "rape rack." When the keeper wants to move a queen to a new colony, she is carried with "bodyguard" bees, all of whom--if they survive transport—will be killed by bees in the new colony.

Large commercial operations also may take all the honey instead of leaving the 60 pounds or so that bees need to get through the winter. They replace the rich honey with a cheap sugar substitute that is not as fortifying or tasty. In colder areas, if the keepers consider it too costly to keep the bees alive through the winter, they will destroy the hives by pouring gasoline on them, killing most of the bees with the fumes, and setting them on fire. Other times, keepers, who feel that lost bees are easily replaced, allow them to die when trees are sprayed with insecticide. Bees are often killed, or their wings and legs torn off, by haphazard handling.

According to the Cook-DuPage Beekeepers' Association, humans have been using honey since about 15,000 B.C., but it wasn't until the 20th century that people turned bees into factory-farmed animals. Luckily, many sweeteners are made without killing bees: Rice syrup, molasses, sorghum, barley malt, maple syrup, and dried fruit or fruit concentrates can replace honey in recipes. Using these substitutes will keep your diet bee-free. For more information, please see http://www.PETA.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=122.

To learn more about cruelty-free living, please see http://www.PETA.org/living/index.asp.