As John pointed out when he covered this earlier, “no honeybees and we don’t eat”. If it is true that cell phones disrupt bee activity, can we change things enough to make a difference? Will the industry allow any change?
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.
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.
If this turns out to be true we’d better do something about it, as anyone would argue that we kinda need bees. Is there any research on the spread of the bee-colony-death phenomena and how it relates to cell phone coverage and radio signal density?
Well in the last 4 1/2 billion years there have been many mass extinctions from many natual causes. Every few milion years changes in many different factors can alter dominance or can change any of the predoinant links that effect the whole chain. I think we are a big link in the chain of life and what we do has its consiquences. Cell phone most deffinatly play a role in the demise of the honey bee, one of the most important links in the chain. Isn’t the question, “Should we stop using cell phone for the Bees sake”? With the answer beeing a deffinate “YES” I would say stop all of the brodcasting on land and in space and see if it makes any difference. I don’t have a cell phone but I know peopl who do and I don’t think they will give them up, willingly.
Well in the last 4 1/2 billion years there have been many mass extinctions from many natual causes. Every few milion years changes in many different factors can alter dominance or can change any of the predoinant links that effect the whole chain. I think we are a big link in the chain of life and what we do has its consiquences. Cell phone most deffinatly play a role in the demise of the honey bee, one of the most important links in the chain. Isn’t the question, “Should we stop using cell phone for the Bees sake”? With the answer beeing a deffinate “YES” I would say stop all of the brodcasting on land and in space and see if it makes any difference. I don’t have a cell phone but I know people who do and I don’t think they will give them up, willingly.
To All Of Mankind ~ Important Message ~
We Better Start getting Serious ~
” To Save our Planet !
is to Save the Honeybee’s ~
Like many other phenomena, the disappearance of bees is probably due a variety of factors. However, i question the safety of cellphones in general and would not dismiss the EMF being emitted by them so quickly as one of the culprits
In general, i think there are too many who might be in denial about cellphones posing any danger to our species or any other simply because so many people have become so dependent on the technology.
There is scientific evidence that the electromagnetic radiation emitted by these phone can interfere with our bodies on a cellular level, with the possibility that down the road we may find an increase in cellphone related brain tumors, for example. In light of this possibility, it is particularly disturbing to see young kids talking on cell phone, since their bodies would in all likelihood be more vulnerable to the adverse consequences of close contact with the strong radiation that these instruments are emitting.
The scariest aspect of all, however, as far as i’m concerned, when it comes to the issue of cellphones, is that so many people assume that the technology has to be safe. I guess these same people assume that all the sugary cereals on store shelves are good for their kids. The fact is that corporate America often doesn’t give a damn about the health of consumers when they’re is so much money to be made from either lying about the products they produce or simply suppressing information about these products.
We know how corporations lie, they lie just like everyone else does. How do they suppress information about the dangers of their products. Could it be because they virtually own the mass media in this country? Hmmmm, I wonder…..
Perhaps the widening of markets across individual continents and linking those continents into the same supply chain (aka globalization) is to blame. If a microbe was brought to California from Asia or South America, and that microbe infected bees, and those very same bees were trucked across virtually the entire North American continent, it would follow that the spread of the microbe would be very rapid. This seems to be a standard practice of commercial beekeeping. The colonies are moved all over the continent to pollinate commercial crops. A spread across the Atlantic would be easily accomplished via commerce. There may well come a time when the ecological risks of global trade outweigh the perceived economic and convenience benefits.
I wonder what kind of cell phone (i.e. GSM, CDMA…) affects the bees to keep them away from their hive? Placing a cell phone near an unwanted hive say, in the wall of your house might be an inexpensive way to get rid of it.