Beeswax recall. Not beeswax at all!

Protect our bees by using friendly waxes!

As a mother and furniture painter and artist, I am mindful of health hazards and risks. A recent beeswax recall was on my radar today.  My bee illustration is cute and upbeat but writing about this beeswax recall and the implication of fake imports is more disconcerting.  There is little news about the beeswax recall, so I thought I’d share with you why this potentially impacts us all, not just those who use beeswax.

P.S: I’ve created a video tutorial on waxing and glazing tips: http://bit.ly/2EC4ypx

[bctt tweet=”Recall #fakeimports #beeswax protect our #Honeybees #corruption #paintedfurniture.”]

 

Furniture painters and DIYers frequent Bunnings a lot and so glad for the beeswax recall.  I have experienced several cheap import disasters from this and other stores.  Our major chains are filling up with the trashy products that so often fail the customer.

Recall our beeswax and honey, please!

I’m not sure about you, but I get pretty ticked off at our system when it fails to protect us from fraudulent and potentially harmful imports when it impacts us nationally -especially when it comes to our health.

Beeswax is not considered a food under the Imported Food Control Act so isn’t tested at our borders.  These imports could potentially impact our food, people with allergies and possibly kill billions of bees through contamination.

The Bunnings beeswax recall saw the store remove furniture polishes from Malaysia in both liquid and solid form.

The Honey Bee Industry Council of Australia alerted the big chain that the beeswax was, in fact, mostly paraffin contaminated with acaricide (a pesticide used overseas to combat varroa mites). A mite of no concern here.

Although I couldn’t find a recall notice on the Bunnings website, you can return the products of concern so check your labels.

 

Predominately I use a local wax on all my furniture – and so, ON MY HANDS and IN MY HOME!  Most of my furniture supplies come from a small Australian company who use eco-safe and natural products.  I can have confidence in no solvents or hidden nasties for me or my customers.  I know our precious bees are not compromised and I’m supporting a business who choose do the right thing.  It is a no-brainer.

Liar, liar, pants on fire!

Beeswax foundation originating from China was also tested and showed a measure of 84.9% paraffin! The company claimed it was 100% beeswax and after being confronted would only admit to 1-2% paraffin. Not only are we not getting real beeswax but a highly flammable inferior substitute!

And we all sing… Liar, liar, pants on fire!

Why the beeswax recall?

One reason would be the effect on our industry, the industry that also protects our bees.  Like with any industry, when you compromise on quality the price goes down with the quality and premium product is more difficult to sell. The market floods with garbage.  HBICA’s council executive director Trevor Weatherhead said,

“Australia gets a very high premium for our beeswax because it doesn’t contain the acaricides other countries with varroa mites have to use to keep their hives alive,”

We DO NOT want contaminants coming into our country and affecting our bees and us!

When we are using waxes and other bee products, we need to be aware of what you and your loved ones are touching, digesting and potentially affecting environmentally.  If we really knew what is being pumped into the products we touch, breathe and ingest, many more of us would think more about what we buy and less about cost.  After all, our health or lack of it can cost us all far more!

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I’ve been disappointed with a wax brush that malted all over my project, paint stripper that stripped NOTHING even after an hour, a wire brush that lost its wire on the first use, a screwdriver that snapped with light use and blinds that were broken and missing pieces because they were so flimsy and made from warped and cracked wood to name a few.

 

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And now the honey situation…

Recently I watched the first of a Netflix documentary series Rotten.  It was titled – Lawyers, guns and honey.  It was enlightening, to say the least.  It exposed China honey imports, filled with other sugars. The story got worse.  I recommend you watch it if you haven’t already.

Australian authorities are also concerned that imported honey from countries such as China and Mexico could contain live viruses and bacteria.  We know what that means right?  We are not really eating the good properties of honey if it is – not honey! We prefer to buy our honey locally.

Bees are a livestock and Beekeepers ensure that livestock breed and prosper and that our honey is real.

The cost of fake products

It has been long known that cheaper products are often bulked out with inferior or “other” ingredients to keep the cost down but we need to be careful of the compromises we make.  We are not eating a meat pie if it is cereal, bone waste or whatever!

We fooling ourselves with substitutes and listening to liars with their pants on fire!

We rely on our authorities to stop this kind of deception at the ports before it hits the shelves but we can’t trust that everything is tested at our borders.

While you can’t trust everyone, I do believe that our country is pretty strict internally with our local companies and businesses.  Buy Australian where possible if you live here, please!  Not only are you more likely to get what you are sold but you are supporting our higher standards and our industries who, under the law, mostly to do the right thing.

 

These days our landfill is overflowing with broken or inadequate imported fake products, clothes that fall apart in the first wash and unsafe electrical goods. They waste our time and money but the attraction of cheaper items keeps them in our stores.

I encourage everyone to be better informed and recycle when possible.  We, who live in a country with safer standards, should endeavour to buy locally and nationally when possible. I include myself.

 

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Further reading:

If you want to know a whole lot more, you can download and read the Honey Bee Industry Council of Australia’s final report.   This newsletter mentions the testing I talk about above.

If you’d like to read more, there is another article on the Netflix documentary by Ron Miska. The comments on this post are interesting too.