The Green Party of Iran stated that it has no information concerning people in Iran becoming ill from eating honey in 1997-1998 (18 Aug. 2000). The Secretary of International Affairs of the Green Front of Iran (GFI) wrote:

I asked our physicianary team in GFI and they said they haven't seen such a case themselves nor read in reports or newspaper.

We have another group in GFI which read most of newspapers in Iran and collect the related news so we have an information bank. We searched the bank but we found nothing related to your question (20 Aug. 2000).

There are several references to the production and export of honey in Iran. Mahjubah reported that "honey produced in Arbadil province has nation-wide fame" (May 1998). Barzegar reported the production of honey in Zagros region (21 Feb. 1998). Zaman reported that in the town of Sarain young boys sell honey to tourists (Dec. 1997). Articles from 1995 reported that honey is an important agriculture product (Iran News 20 Feb. 1995; IRNA 14 Sept. 1995) as well as an export commodity (ibid. 7 Mar. 1995; Iran News 15 Mar. 1995).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Barzegar (Farmer) [Tehran]. 21 February 1998. "Widespread and Extensible Blessings of Zagros." http://www.netiran.com/dailynews.html [Accessed 15 Aug. 2000]

Green Front of Iran (GFI) [Tehran]. 20 August 2000. Correspondence from Secretary of International Affairs. GFI is a non-governmental environmental organization established by four medical students in 1989. It currently has two staff and approximately 6000 members active in 35 working groups. http://www.greenfront.org [Accessed 20 Aug. 2000]

Green Party of Iran [Toronto]. 18 August 2000. Correspondence from representative.

Iran News [Tehran, in English]. 15 March 1995. "Qazvin Exports 270% Rise." http://www.netiran.com/dailynews.html [Accessed 15 Aug. 2000]

______. 20 February 1995. "Jihad Announces Agricultural Autonomy." http://www.netiran.com/dailynews.html [Accessed 15 Aug. 2000]

Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) [Tehran]. 14 September 1995. "President Inaugurates Prumiyeh Petrochemical Complex." http://www.netiran.com/dailynews.html [Accessed 15 Aug. 2000]

_____. 7 March 1995. "965 Tons of Goods Exported From Gonaveh in One Month." http://www.netiran.com/dailynews.html [Accessed 15 Aug. 2000]

Mahjubah (Modest) [Tehran]. May 1998. "The City of Ardebil." http://www.netiran.com/dailynews.html [Accessed 15 Aug. 2000]

Zaman (Time) [Tehran]. December 1997. "Sarain Tourist Town is Waiting for You!" http://www.netiran.com/dailynews.html [Accessed 15 Aug. 2000]

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB databases

LEXIS-NEXIS

Middle East International [London]. Biweekly. January 1997 - December 1998.

REFWORLD

Resource Centre. Iran country file. January 1997 - December 1998.

World News Connection (WNC)

Unsuccessful attempts to contact five non-documentary sources

Internet sites including:

The Earth Times

E Magazine.com

Environmental News Network

Green Party of Iran

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge].

NetIran Website. Encompassing IRNA 1993-98, Iran News 1993-99, Tehran Times 1995-98.

Planet Ark

United Nations

Search engines including:

About.com

Google

PersianWeb