Is bee pollen all it’s cracked up to be?

Unfortunately the prolific use of glyphosate (and other pesticides and insecticides) is not only killing bees, but has also changed the integrity of the pollen that you consume as a supplement—and may now actually be detrimental to your health!

Due to the fact the bee pollen industry is highly lucrative, this potential safety issue is conveniently omitted from the advertising and marketing materials of suppliers of pollen supplements, despite it being an issue of which many are aware!

Secondly, whilst the use of these dangerous chemicals is global, they are more widely used in China, so be EXTREMELY cautious if your pollen supplier imports theirs from here as the contamination levels may be even higher! Be mindful also that many suppliers like to use the term ‘made from imported ingredients’ on their websites to deliberately hide the fact that ingredients come from China.

“…bee pollen may also be harmful to your wealth…”

Ignore the hype from so-called ‘health’ companies selling bee pollen, as most of them are just marketing organisations selling the cheapest pollen they can get—at greatly inflated prices. And in many cases, this pollen is most likely imported from China (china is generally the cheaspest supplier of pollen globally).

The concept of pricing products higher to imply that a product is a better quality is a long-used psycholgical marketing tactic to increase profits—don’t be fooled by it!

Many of these companies are also guilty of being selective with the truth in their claims and will often also bombard you with:- email offers, SMS text messages, or various other cross-sell ‘opportunities‘.

Some also try to encourage you (with financial incentives or discounts) to provide positive feedback to their Google profiles—this is normally a tactic used to falsely improve their star rating, and push their bad reviews further down the page in the hope people won’t see them!

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Note: In both New Zealand and Australia, offering or accepting money for Google reviews is explicitly prohibited by Google’s terms and conditions. This includes offering incentives, whether financial or non-financial, in exchange for reviews.

Such practices (including any testimonials from family members, friends, or other parties connected with the business) are also considered illegal under Australian Consumer Law and may violate the Fair Trading Act in New Zealand if such reviews are not clearly identified as having been incentivised, or (in the case of a testimonial) been made by a connected party.

If you have received any direct marketing or emails incentivising you to place reviews with Google from any suppliers you deal with, you can directly report this to Google, the ACCC in Australia and the Commerce Commission in New Zealand. (In New Zealand the Consumer Protection websisite is also a helpful resource).

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There are many pages online relating to criminal cases about dishonest companies that have employed corrupt practices in the marketing of bee pollen (and other bee related products). Search: dishonest bee pollen companies for some documented examples…

Here are links to some of the relevant studies and research we have found that confirm bee pollen may not be the elixir of life that many of it’s proponents claim:

• bee pollen contamination (Google Search)
• Science Direct Research Paper (see Section 6: Conclusions for a summary of the paper).
• Environmental Organisation Report
• Global Pesicide Use Chart
• Bee Aware (Information hub for beekeepers)
• Scientific Report (Nature.com)

Here are a few more Google search terms to consider:

• What might be in my beepollen?
• do pesticides affect bee pollen?
• is bee pollen carcinogenic?
• is bee pollen tested for pesticides in AUSTRALIA?
• is bee pollen tested for pesticides in NEW ZEALAND?

….and the $64,000 question? 

• Is Chinese bee pollen more likely to be contaminated with pesticides?

We hope you have found our information beneficial, and that given the facts, you will now reconsider taking bee pollen as a supplement.

Take a look at our recently created video and if you have any questions, comments or suggestions about our advocacy, please let us know using the form below.

Consumer Activist Group!

We are part of a technology based consumer activist group set-up to inform the unsuspecting public about the unscrupulous practices of some retail organisations and individuals (both on and offline) that deliberately set out to deceive or scam people—or are less than truthful in the marketing of their products.

We’re not talking about those that sell merchantable products at a fair price, and make a fair profit… we’re out to expose the greedy, dishonest traders who lie and cheat, or knowingly deceive and are selective with the truth. If this is you—watch out!

Whilst we may never totally eradicate these traders, our constant vigilance will at least remove some of them, and ensure others are always looking over their shoulders—or are made accountable for their actions! It is our plan to extensively promote our efforts through advertising to specifically targeted demographics using the internet, social media and press releases.

(Watch out for our FaceBook and Instagram posts in New Zealand and Australia—they should really stir up a hornets nest—pun intended; here’s a new one that we are planning:)