subject: Are mobile phones wiping out our bees? posted: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 05:35:39 +0100
[A nice roundup of some nasty theories concerning mobile phone
radiation. This is my 12th year with a phone. For the last five
years or so, I have been consciously leaving my phone somewhere other
than my pocket. Yes, I miss some calls but I also miss a bunch of
radiation. As much as I want that call, I don't want it that bad. I
also taught myself to text with my left hand (it's not difficult) to
reduce the risk of RSI. From today, I shall be randomly switching my
handset to the other side of my head. Any takers for my new email-to-
SMS gateway? As for the bees, I'd like to blame HAARP. See also:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/02/colony_collapse_disorder/
Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious
'colony collapse' of bees
By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross
Published: 15 April 2007
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.
CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy
and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-
keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly
abandoned.
Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-
west England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs insisted: "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK."
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."
The case against handsets
Evidence of dangers to people from mobile phones is increasing. But
proof is still lacking, largely because many of the biggest perils,
such as cancer, take decades to show up.
Most research on cancer has so far proved inconclusive. But an
official Finnish study found that people who used the phones for more
than 10 years were 40 per cent more likely to get a brain tumour on
the same side as they held the handset.
Equally alarming, blue-chip Swedish research revealed that radiation
from mobile phones killed off brain cells, suggesting that today's
teenagers could go senile in the prime of their lives.
Studies in India and the US have raised the possibility that men who
use mobile phones heavily have reduced sperm counts. And, more
prosaically, doctors have identified the condition of "text thumb", a
form of RSI from constant texting.
Professor Sir William Stewart, who has headed two official inquiries,
warned that children under eight should not use mobiles and made a
series of safety recommendations, largely ignored by ministers.
