Episode 113: Dr Bridget Goodwin, Apitherapy Australia.

This week’s fascinating episode of the Bees with Ben podcast features Dr Bridget Goodwin from the Australian Apitherapy Association (go to apitherapyaustralia.net). For those listeners unfamiliar with apitherapy, this involves the ‘use of products from the bee hive as medicine’. Dr Goodwin explains that there is a tendency for people to view bee products as rather innocuous whereas they are in fact medicinally highly active. The Australian Apitherapy Association website details that apitherapy has been traditionally used in Chinese medicine for 5,000 years (it was the original form of acupuncture) and was used by the ancient Egyptians. In the modern day, apitherapy is an accepted part of the national medical system of many countries. Korea, Turkey, Romania, and Japan all have established apitherapy practices and even hospitals. So, Australia is perhaps a little behind in this regard. Everything that bees make has medicinal applications, and the beneficial properties of bee pollen, bee venom, royal jelly, propolis and apilarnil (drone larvae) are well established. Unlike some forms of alternative medicine, apitherapy is backed by some incredible scientific research. For example, in 2020 the young West Australian PhD scholar, Dr Ciara Duffy, made world news with her research on how bee venom shrinks breast cancer tumours. Earlier in 2016, Sydney University chemist, Professor Colin Duke, published extensively on the tumour shrinking properties of Kangaroo Island propolis. Apitherapy may be used to combat cancer and to heal wounds, as well as in dentistry and veterinary science. Dr Goodwin tells Ben that the ‘bees found her’ rather by accident just before the Covid lockdowns when she was asked to work on a patient’s skin cancer. She had been researching Korean skin care preparations including bee products and decided to give something similar as after care. The results were astonishing - the patient’s skin healed beautifully with no scarring - so Dr Goodwin was left pondering what had happened and embarked on further research into apitherapy. This led to training with international expert Dr Stefan Stangaciu of Romania (who can be found on apitherapy.com), a thesis on treating basal cell carcinoma with bee products and eventually to the formation of the Australian Apitherapy Association. Since then, by her own admission Dr Goodwin has been swept up by the bee community and the Australian Apitherapy Association has established important links internationally. Dr Goodwin credits increased interest in apitherapy in part with the increasing failure of antibiotics, and the World Health Organisation has encouraged member nations to seek alternative medications. She says bee products have the advantage of being completely natural and non-toxic; bees naturally seek out medicinal plants and incorporate beneficial compounds into the products they manufacture. The use of honey in hospitals to assist in healing wounds is widespread and common knowledge, but for more than 20 years a professor of pediatrics in Egypt has been treating asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia in children by nebulizing honey. He has also used honey to treat cataracts. There is so much absorbing information crammed into this podcast - like the advent of apitourism in Europe and ‘bee hive air therapy’, which involves merely breathing in air from a hive and has been shown to be very helpful for people suffering from long Covid and chronic pulmonary disease. The Australian Apitherapy Association is a voluntary organization and relies on the support of the public. Membership is only $120, and the 3 rd conference is to be held by Zoom in November. On July 1 and 2 this year, the Association is proud to offer some very special training with none other than Dr Stefan Stangaciu himself in Hahndorf, South Australia. Visit apitherapyaustralia.net