The Apian Pharmacopeia

Abstract

This article describes the pharmaceuticalization of honeybee health, a process that has accelerated alongside growing beekeeper concerns about unexplained colony losses over the past nearly two decades. Despite their uncertainty about the causes of colony loss and the role of pesticide exposures in rendering bees vulnerable, many entomologists agree that controlling populations of parasitic mites in bee colonies is the key to bees’ survival, making mite infestations a primary target for medical interventions. The pharmaceuticalization of honeybee health means that beekeepers need to track drug administration to prevent toxic interactions, avoid overuse, and reduce resistance. This means not only managing those chemicals intentionally applied, but also those ferried in from outside the colony, notably pesticides and fungicides. Medicalizing a range of husbandry practices like supplemental feeding and mite treatment has become a way to regulate beekeepers’ use of medicine as well as encourage it, making medicalization, paradoxically, a means of encouraging restraint.