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From: "William Grogan"
Date: Mon, 03 May 1999 18:10:11 -0400
Subject: Bees/Beeswax as Animals/Animal Products

Actually Tim, you're right that bees, as insects, are animals, most definitely so. Many people have the mistaken idea that animals have to be cuddly (=3Dfur or feathers). But, vertebrates, cuddly or otherwise, belong to only one phylum (Chordata) of some 30+ animal phyla, while insects, are members of the phylum Arthropoda.

However, Lynda got it right (or nearly so) in her description of beeswax as an animal product. Humans, like other mammals, have sebaceous (=3Doil) glands that accompany and lubricate hair follicles. Our only true wax glands are to be found in our ears, and the purpose of earwax is to cover, protect and otherwise waterproof our ear canals. Insects typically do not have oil glands but have wax glands. Beeswax is produced by honey bees and other bees, such as Bumble Bees, from wax glands on the ventral surfaces of their abdomens. They use these very flexible and maleable waxes to construct honeycomb (honey bees) or honey pots (bumble bees) in which they store honey and/or pollen.

Back to the question, can beeswax be harmful? Usually not, not even if eaten in large quantities, but it can't be digested either. It is possible that a person might be allergic to pollen embedded in it or even the wax itself, but otherwise, it's pretty inert stuff.

Bill Grogan

After Lynda Schemansky wrote:
Beeswax is an animal product.

Tim replied:
Seriously? I thought that bees were insects (I supposed that they are
"animal" as diffrentiated from "vegetable" or "mineral"), and that the wax
they produced was created from pollen they collected from flowers. While
this might technically qualify it as an "animal product" (since it is
produced by these animals), it hardly seems to fall into the same catagory
as, say, lard, or bacon grease. And since the only two alternatives we
seem to have are 1) synthetic and 2) not, it would seem to be less harmful
than, say, urethane, or another petroleum distillate.
- -tim