From The Mind of Merc - Bees

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down.  Today I was thinking about bees.I recently heard about Gwyneth Paltrow’s latest hairbrained scheme/beauty treatment (as if the Sex Dust wasn’t bad enough) which basically involves ‘allowing’ bees to sting her as this ‘reduces inflammation’

This is wrong in a number of ways and on a number of levels:
1) Think there’s a wire crossed somewhere as bee stings cause inflammation – have you ever been stung by a bee and NOT had a red mark flare up as a result?
2) Bees do not want to sting people – if they sting people they die so you are not ‘allowing’ them to sting you – you are forcing them to and consequently killing them
3) Given the endangered status of the bee population and the importance of bees in our lives (no bees basically means no food) by what stretch of the imagination is indulging in a ‘therapy’ that kills bees a good idea?!?

We need bees – not to sting us for some kind of twisted beauty treatment – but because they provide us with most of our food by pollinating the plants that we get them from.
And anyone who says they don’t pollinate cheeseburgers, please work backwards from that:
Bees pollinate the grain that is used to feed the livestock that will become your hamburger. Not to mention the bread in the bap you put it in and the tomatoes in the sauce you add to it.

If you want a bee-related beauty treatment, take up bee-keeping and utilise the honey or royal jelly they produce – both of which have proven health benefits. The former possessing an antiseptic for treating wounds, being stuffed with antioxidants which improve memory and overall health and acting as an effective cough suppressant and allergy reliever while the latter is speculated to have a use in treating cholesterol levels, osteoporosis, diabetes, skin inflammation and even cancer.
Becoming an apiarist would also mean you’d be helping to increase the dwindling bee population (and following in the footsteps of people like Sherlock Holmes, Aristotle, Morgan Freeman and Scarlett Johanssen)

Wasps, on the other hand, are evil and should be exterminated but this should not be done at the expense of or in ways which harm bees – such as pesticides (to which bees are particularly susceptible).

So, in conclusion - Kill the wasps, save the bees and stop using them on a pointless, flawed, unfounded ‘beauty’ treatments!