Mobile phone towers a threat to honey bees: study

August 31, 2009
Leaving mobile phones near to a bee hive was found to have a catastrophic effect

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Honeybees on flowers outside the Presidential Palace in New Delhi. The electromagnetic waves emitted by mobile phone towers and cellphones can pose a threat to honey bees, a study published in India has concluded.

The electromagnetic waves emitted by mobile phone towers and cellphones can pose a threat to honey bees, a study published in India has concluded.

An experiment conducted in the southern state of Kerala found that a sudden fall in the bee population was caused by towers installed across the state by companies to increase their network.

The emitted by the towers crippled the "navigational skills" of the worker bees that go out to collect nectar from flowers to sustain bee colonies, said Dr. Sainuddin Pattazhy, who conducted the study, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

He found that when a cell phone was kept near a , the worker bees were unable to return, leaving the hives with only the queens and eggs and resulting in the collapse of the colony within ten days.

Over 100,000 people in Kerala are engaged in apiculture and the dwindling worker bee population poses a threat to their livelihood. The bees also play a vital role in pollinating flowers to sustain vegetation.

If towers and mobile phones further increase, honey might be wiped out in 10 years, Pattazhy said.

(c) 2009 AFP

3.8 /5 (13 votes)  

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Walid
Aug 31, 2009

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A study of the highest scientific standards, I'm sure.


Hey noosfractal, instead of being sarcastic why don't you make a point.

I don't know if electromagnetism is what bees use to navigate. I used to think it is sunlight and the sun's position in the sky. Another thing that bees hate is tampering and uncleanliness. Either one could have happened around a bee hive with a tower constructed near it. Tampering is very likely but uncleanliness is still a possibility since humans care less until something really bad happens and then retract by saying "oops, I didn't know".
rfw
Aug 31, 2009

Rank: not rated yet
One experiment or observation does not make a body of knowledge. This bee thing is interesting and easily testable.
Doug_Huffman
Aug 31, 2009

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"...when a cell phone was kept near a beehive," OK, are we done arguing about the standards used?

Honeybee navigation is well understood, as is their communication.

Bees do not 'hate' tampering as every beekeeper knows. Their standards of cleanliness are not ours or yours. You anthropomorphize.
nkalanaga
Aug 31, 2009

Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
Whether it's radiation or cleanliness is easy to test. Take two hives, two identical cell phones, and the same researcher. Place a phone next to each hive, one turned on and one turned off. If it's radiation, the phone that's off wouldn't have any effect. If it's cleanliness or "tampering", they would have the same effect.
Sallycat
Aug 31, 2009

Rank: 4 / 5 (1)
There have been studies on electromagnetic radiation (EMR) and effects on bees dating back 30 years.
The studies show that bees are highly sensitive to the EMR environment.
Bees use the earth's natural magnetic field to navigate.
The radiation from the towers causees interference and so they lose their way
They also communicate by vibrating the hive and again the radiation causes interference.
Microwave radiation from cell phone towers has also been shown to disrupt the immune system thus allowing other toxins and parasites to over come the bee in a way that would not have been possible previously.

Please take time to read the evidence:

http://bemri.org/...?id=bees

Decline of bees, UK and worldwide

* The Kompetenz initiative writes urgently to bee associations and beekeepers and explains about EM fields and bee colony collapse
http://bemri.org/...pers.pdf

* Birds, Bees and Mankind: Destroying nature by ‘electrosmog’, Dr Ulrich Warnke. A very significant researched publication, and presented at a conference at the Royal Society, Sept 2008..
http://www.brosch...dex.html

* HAARP Transmissions May Accidentally be Jamming Bees Homing Ability, Guy Cramer, 2007
http://www.hypers...ndex.htm
Sallycat
Aug 31, 2009

Rank: not rated yet
There have been studies on electromagnetic radiation (EMR) and effects on bees dating back 30 years.
The studies show that bees are highly sensitive to the EMR environment.
Bees use the earth's natural magnetic field to navigate.
The radiation from the towers causes interference and so they lose their way.
They also communicate by vibrating the hive and again the radiation causes interference.
Microwave radiation from cell phone towers has also been shown to disrupt the immune system thus allowing other toxins and parasites to over come the bee in a way that would not have been possible previously.

Please take time to read the evidence from the following web sites:

bemri.org/archive/hese-uk/en/issues/emr.php?id=bees


Decline of bees, UK and worldwide

* The Kompetenz initiative writes urgently to bee associations and beekeepers and explains about EM fields and bee colony collapse
bemri.org/archive/hese-uk/en/niemr/kompetenz_beekeepers.pdf


* Birds, Bees and Mankind: Destroying nature by ‘electrosmog’, Dr Ulrich Warnke. A very significant researched publication, and presented at a conference at the Royal Society, Sept 2008..
broschuerenreihe.net/international/bees-birds-and-mankind/index.html


* HAARP Transmissions May Accidentally be Jamming Bees Homing Ability, Guy Cramer, 2007
hyperstealth.com/haarp/index.htm
TJ_alberta
Sep 05, 2009

Rank: not rated yet
Sallycat - you have presented some references that make interesting reading. The HAARP report by Cramer in particular.

The Birds and Bees brochure must loose a lot in translation from the German. In English it reads like a religious tract, not a research paper.

Anyway all the bees here at my place appear happy, well adjusted and well oriented -- and there are certainly lots of them servicing the clover flowers. I mention this because right in the yard is a wireless internet tower. From this I infer that low intensity 2.4 GHz RF probably does not have a strong affect on wild bees.
My 2 cents.
RDD1977
Sep 06, 2009

Rank: not rated yet
Interesting, this has been proposed before:
http://www.indepe...768.html

A simple test would be to overlay maps of the incidence of CCD and a map of phone tower construction and see if there is a correlation. I have no idea how to get the data (gee I almost said im sure the govt is looking at it, but then i remembered...) Imagine if a bunch of paid off MP's paid off by phone companies ended up being responsible for the death of our food supply.
RDD1977
Sep 06, 2009

Rank: not rated yet
in a fit of journalism, I googled "CCD BEES" and found a couple of interesting links:

This is a study published yesterday which implicates a possible virus
http://thefarmer-...?s=31040

This one is a couple of weeks old, simmilar story:
http://www.pnas.o...35/14790

And this is funny:
http://www.youtub...IKBVd8no
Rank 3.8 /5 (13 votes)
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