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Date Submitted: 05/03/2016 06:01 PM
Dr. White
English 1301
October 26, 2012
The Bee’s Knees are Crippled
“The busy bee has no time for sorrow” – William Blake
Pollen production has been a growing industry in America since 1865. Not only do bees provide honey for local and national citizens, but the pollen found in most male bees has been proven to help in curing and preventing diseases that have struck those who suffer from seasonal allergies, and the pollen has been most recently used as a vitamin to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Until recently, there has been no debate regarding the extraction of bee pollen for medical purposes. However, changes in Federal Drug Administration (FDA) regulations now threaten the experimental use of bee pollen. In his documentary entitled: Won’t You Please Help Us with the Bees? Jon Stewart argues for the continued extraction and production of bee pollen for medical purposes. Stewart uses many rhetorical strategies in his argumentative film.
Stewart details the debate as this: local farmers and beekeepers have, historically, held all rights as owners of the pollen and honey produced by bees. Therefore, farmers and beekeepers who own the bees reserve all rights (and risks) that accompany managing bees and their pollen. However, in 2006, the FDA enacted the Please the Bees Act, which enabled corporations and contractors to “seize the bees” if any potential outbreak of bees threatened the safety of residents who lived near bees. Also, since the pollen has not been inherently recognized by the FDA as a legitimate cure and preventative treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, the farmers and beekeepers posses no real ownership of any profits or rights that may occur as a result of selling the pollen at local farmer’s markets, retails stores, or pharmacies.
This debate has created a problem for: farmers, beekeepers, the FDA, pharmaceutical companies, and citizens who use the pollen as an alternative to pills and other forms of preventative treatments for common...