Are Cell Phones Killing Bees?
By this time you have certainly heard about bees disappearing from their hives, never to be seen again. It’s called Colony Collapse Disorder.
One theory holds that cell phone radiation is interferring with the bees’ navigation system.
It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world’s harvests fail.
They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.
The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees’ navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive’s inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.
The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast.
It makes me wonder.
If people had to choose between having cell phones or food, which would they choose?
Since most people don’t understand the role that “lower” forms of life play in keeping humans alive, I suspect they would choose cell phones over bees, and consequently food. Bees are just insects that sting you, right?
Wrong!
The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world’s crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, “man would have only four years of life left”.
No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks.
German research has long shown that bees’ behaviour changes near power lines.
Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a “hint” to a possible cause.
Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: “I am convinced the possibility is real.”
If there is a relationship between cell phone usage and the disappearance of bees, it’s also possible that a new species of bees will evolve that can navigate in an environment that is rich in cell phone radiation. But how long would that take?
UPDATE 4/16/07: This article from The Crossed Pond, cleverly called Bee Afraid, adds some additional perspective to this story. Even bees have a lobbyists.
It alludes to something that I’ve written about previously, the corruption of science by government and politics. So here’s another question for you: If science becomes corrupted to the point where it is nothing but a tool for special interests to regulate the market to their advantage, where will we turn for the truth? Indeed, bee afraid!
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April 15th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Sadly, I think you’re right. If people had to choose, they’d opt for the mobile phone out of ignorance. If the research turns out to be true, I suppose it makes a good case of government intervention in the cell phone markets. Push them to solve the problem or else.
April 15th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Disappearing Bees and the Cell Phone Link?…
Chip Gibbons brings the Colony Collapse Disorder to our attention, and the new theories on the role that cell phones may be playing:It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love…
April 15th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Politicians worldwide are probably discussing Colony Collapse Disorder on their cell phones right now.
April 19th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Similar problems have happened with the introduction of Tracheal and Varroa mites. Parasitic mite syndrome, and pesticides may play a roll. Bees will leave a hive if the slime from African Hive Beetle is present. Bees use smell, UV light, pheromones, and social “dance” to communicate. I think it is unlikely that radio waves from phones are the cause. There is a new pest every 7 years in beekeeping since the 80’s. I blame Genetically Modified foods though there isn’t research that points to altered food sources.
–Mike
April 25th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
The cell phone theory of the causation of CCD begs the question: Is there an absence of the Disorder in parts of the world where cell phones do not exist?