You may think honeybees are just those annoying insects which sting you. But actually, bees are really important! Their activities help grow many of our crops, including most fruits and vegetables. If they were to die out, it would be terrible for our food supply.
Even the venom of the honeybee’s sting is used for treatment of arthritis and is under research for treatment of multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases.
However, the number of honeybees started to go down due to parasites introduced by humans in the 1960s. The main reason this parasite is dangerous to bees is because it introduces diseases, which then kills honeybees.
They have also been affected by chemicals sprayed by farmers to kill insects and by the increasing loss of countryside to new building areas.
It is amazing to think we have only found out all this information about honeybees through recent scientific research, but they were mentioned specially in the Quran 1400 years ago!
by Faran Afzal, from the Atfal Trainee Scheme’s Junior Journalist Course
