There is no doubting the importance of honey in human history and the “land flowing with milk and honey” is Biblical in nature [1]. Hence we have documented the importance of raw milk several times and have mentioned honey in some of our Q&A Sessions. However, we continued to receive requests to address honey including New Zealand’s famed Manuka honey.
Our research into honey brought us straight into the world of hive “infections” including American Foulbrood and the claim that the implicated bacterium had satisfied Koch’s postulates. This needs careful analysis because as far as we are concerned, “pathogens” are a fallacious concept. Indeed we know there are much more satisfactory explanations through the terrain.
In this video we look at the beekeeping industry and why the germ proponents are burning thousands of hives. The real causes of colony demise are considered including how much of this is a man-made problem. We also answer questions such as “is honey medicinal?” and whether the “anti-microbial” properties of honey are of any benefit to our health.
[1] “And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…” – Exodus 3:8
ADDENDUM - 27 Feb 2026
Subsequent to the publication of this video, a viewer kindly made us aware that Wikipedia’s “White 1907” refers to a booklet, The Cause of American Foul Brood written by G. F. White and published by the United States Department of Agriculture in July 1907.
While the booklet states that, “American foul brood has been produced by feeding pure cultures of Bacillus larvæ…”, there is no mention of Koch’s postulates - although the author perhaps implies they were fulfilled.
White gives a brief description of feeding “pure cultures of Bacillus larvæ” and sugar syrup to “healthy colonies” with reproduction of the disease. However, there was no mention of any control experiments so it could not be said to follow the scientific method. (He only compared inoculations using “pure cultures” versus “the scales from combs which had contained brood affected with American foul brood”.)
Additionally, the over-riding fatal defect for the germ hypothesis remains the inconsistency with Koch’s first postulate: “The microorganism must be found in abundance in all organisms suffering from the disease but should not be found in healthy organisms.” In this case, evidence of the implicated bacterium can be found in hives that exhibit disease AND those that do not.
References
“AFB Levy”, NZ Bee Health & Biosecurity, American Foulbrood National Pest Management Plan New Zealand (accessed 15 February 2026)
“Biosecurity Act 1993”, New Zealand Legislation
“Under threat of jail, beekeeper burns $2m of bee boxes”, 1news, 15 May 2024 (archived)
Bacteria of the Apiary, Gershom White, 1906
The Cause of American Foul Brood, Gershom White, 1907
“American foulbrood”, Wikipedia (accessed 19 Feb 2026)
“white 1907 american foulbrood”, Brave search (16 Feb 2026)
“Phages in Therapy and Prophylaxis of American Foulbrood – Recent Implications From Practical Applications”, Frontiers in Microbiology, 11 Aug 2020
“TB: Cows, Lies & Koch-Ups”, Dr Sam Bailey, 13 May 2023
“Why Pathogens Don’t Exist”, Dr Sam Bailey, 29 Apr 2023
“A First-Of-Its-Kind Bee Vaccine”, Dalan (accessed 17 Feb 2026)
“A vaccine for bees has an unexpected effect”, ScienceNews, 24 Apr 2024 (archived)
“antibodies”, ViroLIEgy (accessed 17 Feb 2026)
Virus Mania, 3rd English edition 2021
The Invisible Rainbow, Arthur Firstenberg, 2017
“UMF™ Honey and the UMFHA”, New Zealand Honey Co. (accessed 18 February 2026)
