Beecause of Cellphones?

Is our need for technological advancement killing our planet?

Is our honey bee population in decline because of cell phones? They have been on what seems to be a steady decline, and it would appear some research done by Landau University, in England, has linked the cause to our cell phones.

CNN reported that the study has suggested that cell phone radiation may be contributing to declines in bee populations in some parts of the world. It would appear that Landau has been doing a limited study, and has found that when cell phones are placed near the hives and turned on the bees will abandon their hives.

The term "Colony collapse disorder" has been use to describe a phenomenon in which worker bees in beehives abruptly disappear. The reason a name has been placed to such behavior recently is because of the steady and drastic rise in the numbers of disappearances that become highly noted in late 2006. According to the British Bee Association, yes such a thing exist, the populations in the UK alone dropped 17 percent and nearly 30 percent in the US last year.

Other biotic factors have also been put into play which might explain the steady decline in our colonies and bees overall. Such things as Varrora mites, and insect diseases, environmental stress and malnutrition have also been placed up to bat for the blame. Why should we be so concerned about the decline in our be population? Loss of our bees would mean the end for some fruits and vegetables which would be devastating to farmers relying on their products for a living. It has been estimated that the produce that bees pollinate is worth around $12 billion dollars annually and a loss like that would mean farmers would be taking a huge hit.

England is not the only one doing research on the effect of cell-phones on our bee populations. A university in northern India, Panjab University, fitted cell phones to a hive and powered them up for two fifteen-minute periods each day. After three months, they found that the bees had stopped producing honey, and egg production by the queen had been halved and the size of the hives they were doing the research on were dramatically reduced. Which brings us back to CCD, or Colony collapse disorder.

Perhaps a little more background is in order, from 1972 to 2006 there was a rapid decline in the number of feral honey bees in the United States. ("Pollination worries rise as honey bees decline." Science, vol. 265, pg 1170.) Though the declines were originally thought to be because of urbanization other causes later arose (see above.) Though there is other documentation of occurrences resembling CCD, as early as 1869 the actual set of symptoms described for CCD didn't actually get its name until recently. In 2009 the United States reported that over one third of the bees did not survive the winter, and in the US at least 24 different states have reported cases of CCD which has lead to more fears of a "biological disaster."

Moving on, now that you know a bit more about CCD let's continue with what we rely on honeybees for. Over 90 some cultivated flowering crops rely mostly on the honey bees. Not that people are willing to give up their cell phones just to save an insect, though an insect they rely heavily on, but it is some food for thought. And while the theory might sound far fetched, scientist are continuing to do research to explain the mass epidemic of bee losses.