Today on Dr. Oz they had a guest on the show who was a beekeeper. I love bees, and if you enjoy fruits, nuts, and vegetables, you should love bees too because they are vital for the process of pollinating many of the plants that provide food for us.
The beekeeper showed how she gets venom from bees: She holds them with a forceps (“we treat them with respect” she said…) before forcing the bee to commit suicide by stinging a pad of fabric.
“I extract the venom and then homeopathically dilute it and mix it with honey and other ingredients to make my anti-aging face mask.”
Ok, so not only does she kill bees so that she can claim bee venom as an ingredient in her “beauty mask,”, but she then homeopathically dilutes it. What this means is that she adds one drop of bee venom to 1000, or 10,000 or more drops of water, and then dilutes one drop of this down again, and so on. Until there is no detectable trace of bee venom in the final solution. (In case you were wondering, yes, that means there is no bee venom in the final product. That’s what makes homeopathy so effective…the absolute absence of active ingredients…)
By the way, I don’t think the beekeeper uses her own product, because her skin did not look very healthy. Or perhaps she DID use her own product, and is herself proof of it’s ineffectiveness…
I have no issues with using honey as a face mask or moisturizer or even a sweetener. I think beeswax candles are the ONLY candles that make any sense. But to kill bees to create a placebo cosmetic solution for dry, wrinkled skin? BEEwildering…
Please Dr. Oz, pass up the pseudo-science (homeopathy, hypnosis, etc.) and concentrate on what you devoted most of your life to: helping people achieve better health through science.
Did you happen to see this segment? Care to share your thoughts? Please do so by sending me a comment!
Robert J. Stone
Wow, the lady said that it stung a little bit. So You’re saying it didn’t work, and that she probably had no bee venom in there at all?
Hello lizlupeliz! I recall the lady saying that it “tingled” or something like that, but I don’t think that even putting pure bee venom on your skin would make it sting. A bee sting is only effective if injected into the skin, otherwise bees would be able to get away with “spraying” their venom and wouldn’t die when they used their venom on an enemy. As far as the venom mask “working”, it’s probably in the category of the vast majority of facial masks and other cosmetics: If the user hopes it will work, they will probably notice some benefit, regardless of whether or not they are getting real results. Besides, the amount of bee venom in the mask is “homeopathic”, which means it is diluted many thousands (if not millions) of times and there is unlikely to be any venom detectable in the mask. Thank you for your comment, and have a great day!