# Bees (and their honey) turning RED



## cornbread (Jul 4, 2005)

Bees (and their honey) turning RED

NYC Bees Turn Red With Dye From Feeding At Cherry Factory

New York City beekeeper Cerise (seh-REEZ') Mayo was puzzled when her bees started showing up with mysterious red coloring. Their honey also turned as red as cough syrup. She tells The New York Times a friend joked that the bees were imbibing the runoff at Dell's Maraschino Cherries Company, in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. Mayo â whose first name means "cherry" in French â raises bees in that neighborhood and across the water on Governor's Island.

Tests confirmed the bees were riddled with Red Dye No. 40 â the same food coloring found in the cherry juice. Bee expert Andrew Cote tells the newspaper that bees had been creating a big nuisance at the factory.

The solution? Put up screens or provide a closer source of sweet nectar.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1..._n_789958.html


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

WOW... Wonder what Red Dye No. 40 does to US!! If it can turn a bee red? Of course I don't dine on just one food source like bees do.... but still... Wonder what the long term affects are on these bees.


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## KnowOneSpecial (Sep 12, 2010)

My son is allergice to Red Dye #40. If he eats or drinks any of it he will vomit it right back up. It's amazing how many things have red dye in them. Since it's very cheap, they will use it to make orange (red and yellow), and purple (red and blue) foods. Try finding a kids 'fun food' that isn't red, orange or purple. Thankfully he's discovered chocolate and is totally fine with a snickers bar while his siblings munch on fruit by the foot! 

The thing that really gets me about food dye is that they put it in medicine. If my son gets sick there are very few cold, flu or headache meds I can give him. If I luck out and find dye free stuff I have to pay more for it. Now why do I have to pay for something that's NOT in a product? What's more disgusting is that medical personel do NOT take food dye allergies seriously, either. My son had surgery on his boy bits and they gave him 2 tsps of tylenol with codene (BRIGHT RED STUFF) before the surgery and another 2 tsp's after. On the way home my poor boy had an ice pack on his groin and a barf bag at his side. The doctors told me that 4 tsp's wouldn't make him sick if they spaced it out over a few hours. I told them they were wrong, but what do I know? I'm just the Mom. :grumble:


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

The doctors told me that 4 tsp's wouldn't make him sick ,, this is were you have to say "" NO you will NOT give my son ANY thing with red dye "" ,, I have learned , that unless you let them know , that you are not intimidated by them because they have the paper saying they are a doctor ,, and that you will stand your ground . they will do things at your risk , just because they have the slip of paper that says that they are a DOCTOR .
Been there done that .


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

Standing up to doctors is hard, but I did it!! When my daughter started on the normal routine of shots that are demanded by the medical field, the first round was two shots. She spiked a feaver that really had me worried! The next round was *4* shots!! I told them, "Not only NO, but H*** NO!!!" They tried telling me that this was best as if I didn't she would be afraid of doctors because of all the repeated pain she received instead of just getting it done at once. They assured me that some children just run a fever, it was normal... I then asked them if it was a LAW that they get these shots? Would I be put in jail if I didn't give her these shots? ... Um... No, but it is recommended... I guess with the threat of not giving her any shots, they decided they'd do it my way and give her one shot at a time.


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