Bees have inhabited planet Earth for several million years. According to most scientific publications, they have existed for at least two million years before man. Honeybees bring great and varied advantages. They produce valuable and irreplaceable products – honey, beeswax, royal jelly, bee pollen, propolis, and bee venom. Bees pollinate all cultivated and wild plants.

Humans have been using bee products for food, cosmetics, and treatment since time immemorial. Treatment is called apitherapy (from apis – bee, and therapy – treatment). Modern medicine and pharmacy are getting more and more interested in propolis, beeswax, royal jelly, bee venom and honey. A great number of large and small companies are also engaged in the development, improvement and production of unique and harmless goods, based on bee products.

One of these companies is the Bulgarian „EKOSITI 2010“ LTD., Radomir, which created a universal, harmless and effective ointment, made of bee products and vegetable oils – VATRASIN. Some innovations were introduced in its development – for instance, calcium hydroxide was used in the substance for the very first time on a global scale. VATRASIN is intended primarily to prevent the adverse impact of the environment and to help the skin to recover from burns and warn outs, after surgeries and plastic surgery procedures, acne, herpes, boils, when it is rough or cracked, etc. The useful bee products – honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen, royal jelly, bee venom, etc., are a cocktail of natural enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and others.

Far back in time, ancient scientists and healers had found out that the use of honeybee products improved the health and life expectancy. They are especially useful for boosting children and elderly people’s immune systems after illnesses. According to specialists, lighter types of honey (linden and acacia honey) have the best medical and biological characteristics, being second only to polyfloral (herbal) honey. The large number of antibacterial and antifungal ingredients in bee products account for their long expiry date and strong protection against fermenting and moulding.

To date, no other natural preservatives that are stronger and more harmless than propolis and beeswax have been discovered. Much has been written and much more can be said about the properties of bee products. Perhaps there are many things that we still do not know about bees, be we should keep them and help them in their work and life, because in this way we are helping ourselves. It is a well-known fact that if bees become extinct, the humankind will perish within four years. The bee has many enemies – starting from the diseases all living organisms suffer from, continuing with wasps, hornets, rodents, bee-eaters (a kind of bird), bears, etc., and reaching humans with their irresponsible attitude, including the environmental pollution and treatment of crops with plant-protection products that destroy bee colonies. Recently there have been some movement concerning the factors responsible for the protection of bees, but this is not enough. The topic will be discussed in the next article. Be healthy and keep the bees – keep your future.