Recent years have seen renewed interest in the therapeutic properties of hive products. With the emergence of antibiotic resistance in microorganisms there is a need to find alternative treatments and so the curative claims made for these products need to be examined with due scientific rigour. Acceptance of any product that is perceived as a medicine requires lengthy laboratory and clinical trials. No claims should be made unless they are based on wide ranging and reviewed scientific data. One off case studies and folklore tales do not help to establish recognition of these potentially very important natural healing products as a treatment of first rather than last resort within the field of conventional medicine. The regulation of “therapeutic goods” varies by jurisdiction but the purpose is the same: to protect the health and safety of the population so that most products need to be registered before they can be marketed. In a world that has become a global village such information now needs to be standardised and internationally available. There are EU and US pharmacoepias but these are not international and the law supporting them is limited to mutual territories.