Beekeeper fined for use of banned substance

COURT: Blairgowrie businessman had supplied honey to the royal family

A beekeeper who produced honey for the royal family has been fined after he admitted giving a banned drug to his bees.

Murray McGregor, owner of Denrosa Apiaries in Blairgowrie, administered “unauthorised veterinary medicinal products” following a Europe-wide outbreak of the foulbrood disease.

The scale of the spread of the disease found veterinarians and the Scottish Government unprepared.

Perth Sheriff Court heard that led McGregor, 61, to take “foolhardy” steps to cure and protect his 3,000 hives.

Faced with an indeterminate wait for supplies of an approved medication, he turned to the internet and imported a similar substance from the US.

It was, however, neither approved by the Scottish Government nor properly tested by authorities in Scotland. His use of the banned substance was discovered during testing of his bees, prompting a full investigation of his activities.

The court was told the substance, though unauthorised, had been properly used and posed no threat to humans.

McGregor has been keeping bees since 1973 and runs Scotland’s largest bee farm. In the past he has produced honey for Balmoral Estate and Prince Charles’ Duchy Estate.

Solicitor Kevin Lancaster said: “This goes back to 2009 when Mr McGregor identified that some colonies were showing signs of disease. When this was revealed to be foulbrood, he contacted the local bee inspector who carried out tests and confirmed the presence of European Foulbrood.

“Further tests found that the problem was widespread. The scale of the disease was unprecedented within the industry.

“There was no procedure in place to deal with an outbreak on this scale. Many bee inspectors did not have any experience of the disease. If left unchecked it would have decimated the bee population.”

Mr Lancaster said that as a respected industry expert his client had been centrally involved in formulating the industry’s response.”

Identifying the product that should be administered to hives was not the only issue, however, as the solicitor said supplies were far too limited.

Faced with the potential total loss of his colonies, he said his client had imported a stopgap product from the US which he used until the authorised product became available.

“This was not covert; he imported it openly,” Mr Lancaster said.

“He knows that he should not have done it and that it was foolhardy.”

McGregor admitted importing the unauthorised medicinal product, Terramycin 100MR, between July 2009 and October 2010. He also admitted giving the product to an animal, namely the honey bee, in contravention of the relevant regulations and possessing the substance without authorisation.

He was fined £2,500.

Picture: Wullie Marr. McGregor has kept bees since 1973.