First Propolis Congress - Report from the German Apitherapy Society (2004)

 First Propolis Congress - Report from the German Apitherapy Society (2004)

 Dr. Stefan Stangaciu

After our First Propolis Congress, Expo and Course organized in Passau, Holiday Inn Hotel (March 26-30, 2004), we are happy to offer you a general view on our event.

As most of you have seen in our websites (www.apitherapie.de and www.apitherapy.com ) we have had a very complex program. We spoke 5 days long only on Propolis but everybody has had the feeling that there is much more to say. We have had excellent new speakers like Prof. Siegfried Ansorge (Regulatory action of propolis on basic functions of human immune cells), Pharmacist Franz Stibal (Practical experiences with Propolis in a Pharmacy), Bernhard Huber, N.D. (Allergy-Testing by Klinghardt shown in the case of Propolis) from Germany, Prof. Dr. Ivan Basic (Croatia) (Antitumor activity of propolis in experimental tumor models (in vivo and in vitro), Assist. Prof. Mamdouh Abdulmaksoud Mohamed Abdulrhman (Egypt) (Intravenous injections of Honey in Human Volunteers), Pedro Plaja (Spain) (Use of Propolis through Stiperopuncture) and John Drakes from United Kingdom (Our Clinical experience with Propolis). Our faithful friends that have participated already to our first two international congresses on Apitherapy (held also in Passau), Prof. Eberhard Bengsch (Aspects of the Biochemistry of Propolis), Dr. (biol.) Andreas Stocker (Experiments with microbiocidal flavonoids and visualisation of their uptake in microorganisms and lymphocytes), Dr. Ludwig Kirmeier (Clinical experience with the use of a diluted propolis solution in cases with chronically oto-rhino-laryngological and upper respiratory infections), Dr. Michael Schuhbauer (Use of Propolis against Pharyngo-tonsilitis and as a preventative agent against Lyme disease), Claudette Raynal (France) (The propolis in Traditional Chinese Medicine: an Apienergising Product), Pedro Perez Gomez (Spain) (Local use of Propolis to diminish the Pain and Itch during Bee Sting Therapy) and Prof. Park (Brasil) (Isolation and identification of some biologically active substances from Brazilian propolis), came again with the best of their knowledge and friendship.

The Congress has been officially congratulated at its opening by Mr. Honorary President of Apimondia, Prof. Raymond Borneck, by Dr. Hirofumi Naito (Public Relation Officer in the Japanese Apitherapy Association) and by Mr. Johnson Koh Tong Sin (representative of the International Apitherapy and Healthcare Association presided by Prof. Fang Zhu from China).

Some of our authors have not been able to come to Passau, but sent us though excellent papers. This is the case with Assoc. Prof. Vassya Bankova (Bulgaria) (Important developments in recent propolis research), M. Sc. Julio César Bracho Pérez (Perú) (Characterization of Propolis from Perú), Prof. Dr. B. Havsteen (Denmark) (the Influence of Flavonoids on Cancer), Joachim Polik, N.D. (Germany) (Use of Propolis combined with other therapy forms in the daily naturopathic practice), Dr.vet. Mostafa Moradi (Iran) (Apiculture and Propolis therapy in Iran and Determination of B. larvae susceptibility to propolis in Iran), Dr. A. N. Shikov (Propolis in Russia: quality and application in traditional and officinal medicine)

Our Propolis-Expo 2004 has had the honour to receive specialists and/or their bee products and apitherapics coming besides from Germany (German Apitherapy Society, Jakel Apiaries, Börner, Passau Beekeepers Club), from France (Ballot-Flurin Apiculteurs, Laboratoire Landais, Pollenergie), Poland (Apipol), Brazil (Nectar Farmaceutica, ApisFlora), Canada (Apitronic Services), Romania (Mark International Ltd.) and UK (Bee Health).

Immediately after the Congress (March 29-30) we have organized an Intensive Practical Apitherapy Course (9 hours long) for two groups: one speaking German and the other one English. During this special Diploma Course we have had the chance to review the information shared with us by our speakers during the Congress and especially to explain the most important practical "secrets" of the propolis therapy used in specific human or animal diseases.

Altogether we have had around 200 participants coming, besides Germany, from other 22 countries: Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA.

Our goal for the next Congress is to attract specialists and participants from over 40 countries, so, if you like to feel the "pulse" of the European and International Apitherapy, come to Germany next spring!

A very important news is that we decided to organize the Third German Apitherapy Congress, Expo and Course again in Passau, Holiday Inn Hotel, this time one week later: April 1-6, 2005. So, do insert in your 2005 calendar this important date. Hope to see you and/or your best European friends there too.

We would like to finish our short report with an important "technical" proposal. All of you having an E-mail address and wanting to join our future non-stop "Apitherapy-Lists" (in German and/or in English, Spanish or French) please let us know. We can be, in touch, through these special E-mail Lists, almost daily, so if you still do not have an E-mail address, ask your local Internet Café employee to get for you, free of charge, an e-mail address to "Yahoo" or "Hotmail". See you soon!
Dr. Stefan Stangaciu
President of the German Apitherapy Society
Web: www.apitherapie.de
Web: www.apitherapy.com