Honey Is the Root of All Evil

So . . . I read a fascinating article in the paper a few weeks ago.  It was all about honey and bees.  And it was indeed fascinating.  It seems that the honey trade is not so sweet - there is major fraud, money laundering, forgery, and bribery going on to keep the golden flow moving.  Truly a sticky situation.  More on this story, and some more bad puns, after the jump.

The Globe and Mail published this article on "honey laundering" a few weeks ago, and it really caught my attention.  I am no lover of honey (other than all of the honey I unknowingly eat in my beloved consumer products), and have no great interest in bees, but something about the article caught my attention. 

(aside #1: the title of this post isn't just a clever play on words; it's actually the fortune I once received from a fortune cookie.  God bless typos. Anyway, I have been following that advice ever since - I never squeeze the bear, if you know what I mean.  You know, the bear-shaped honey bottles.  What did you think I meant?)

Then I realized what was so similar about this story.  It's essentially the same story as the mortgage/financial crisis we have been living through for the past couple of years.  No, honey did not bring down the financial system (or did it? hmm . . . ).  What brought down the financial system was short-hand, or heuristic, decision-making. 

In the honey situation, they banned or taxed Chinese imports of honey because it was, basically, not honey (or honey plus antibiotics, which is kind of like a perverse modern version of a "spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down").  When honey started coming in from China's neighbours, and not in a subtle fashion (all of the sudden there's tons of honey coming from Singapore!  I guess they finally figured out bees), no one questioned it - Singaporean honey imports were not banned or subject to tariffs.  Knowing this, and knowing some of the other checks and tests that may be done on the honey (e.g. pollen strains present), the Chinese honey producers were able to circumvent the system by following its own rules. 

(aside #2: the actual proverb is "the love of money is the root of all evil," which unfortunately gets shortened to "money is the root of all evil."  Which has a very different connotation.  It's not money that's evil, but the obsession over it.  So don't be hatin' on money.)

The financial system, likewise, failed because the people trying to make profits could use its own rules against it.  If I know that certain bad debts or mortgages can be made to look better in the eyes of bond raters by packaging them in different ways, why shouldn't I do that?  It doesn't make the debts any better, but it will help me sell them to little old ladies and take their pension money.  No rules were broken, and you could argue that the rules themselves weren't flawed.  It was that the people supposedly checking and doing due diligence (both buyers and raters) were using a shorthand method of doing so, relying on the system as opposed to actually examining the product.

It's the same as having products certified "Fair Trade" or "Organic".  The administration that gives permission to use the organic labels cannot inspect every farm, so it depends on layers of bureaucracy to do so; they have a system in place.  If the farmer (or distributor, or anyone in a position to profit off of it) knows how to meet the standard to the letter of the law, even if not in the spirit of the law, they can.  The administration is remiss in not properly checking and relying on the system, and the consumer buying the not-really-organic product in remiss in not doing any research into the product beyond checking if it has a "Certified Organic" sticker on it.

(aside #3: I'm not sure I really care if my "honey", baked into cookies and breakfast cereals, is really honey.  After all, isn't it just sweetness that I want?  And the corn syrup used to sweeten the honey embittered by antibiotics is just as successful at that goal.  I suppose I don't want antibiotics in my honey, but on the other hand it could be handy if I get an infection.)

The bottom line is that we rely on the judgment of others, possibly too much at times.  If I really care about getting hormone or antibiotic-free honey, I as the consumer should do what I can to make sure that happens (and as most readers of this blog live in Canada or the U.S., they can go to farmers markets and buy honey from the producers themselves if they want).  That is where accountability has to start.  Because if there is no profit in giving real honey (or packaging debts that will actually be repaid), it won't be done.

I hope that this sweet story will stick with you.  Maybe you'll bee all abuzz about it for the rest of the day.  Hive got a feeling, though, that you don't want me to drone on and on, waxing poetic about honey.  Such an attitude stings, but I'll keep combing through the paper looking for stories like this.  Hey, I warned you about the puns.