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At APITERAPIA (the National Medical Center of Apitherapy), Research Has Been Conducted on the Use of Royal Jelly and Propolis for Medical Practices.
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Apiterapia Medical Center
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Soon after arriving we visited Apiterapia (the National Medical
Center of Apitherapy), which is the main facility for Romanian apitherapy
in Bucharest. Mr. Siceanu was one of the two people who gave us the tour
of the institution. He is a specialist in the ecology of bees, and also
deals with the development and improvement of apicultural technology.
He bears the important role of Marketing Manager for Apipondia (International
Federation of Beekeepers' Associations), which is an international organization
for apiculturists. The other person was Ms. Cristina Mateescu, who is
the most active female staff member of Apimondia, and an expert developer
of medicines and cosmetics derived from bee products. Unlike the usual
image of such a facility bearing the name "Medical Center",
Apiterapia is a more general-purpose facility. The primary feature, one
may notice, is research. It has its own research laboratory where a wide
range of research has been carried out regarding the use of royal jelly
and propolis, including that of medicines and cosmetics, as well as for
food. Biological studies of bees, analyses and quality assessments of
bee products, studies on therapeutic properties of bee products from the
medical point of view, and so on have been undertaken. Ms. Mateescu is
one of the researchers at this laboratory. She showed us, while we were
still in awe, the wide range of their research projects, as well as some
old literature and records of prescriptions based on bee products, explaining
that: "we, humans in the 20th century, are only re-discovering the
knowledge of the past." We nodded in silence at her remarks. |
