Cell Phones and Honeybees

By Miss Cellania in Animals & Pets, Science & Tech on Jun 30, 2010 at 9:33 am

Way back in 2007, we posted an item about how cell phones might be responsible for Colony Collapse Disorder, which is affecting the world honeybee population. Now, scientists in India have published results of an experiment that corroborates the theory.

In a study at Panjab University in Chandigarh, northern India, researchers fitted cell phones to a hive and powered them up for two fifteen-minute periods each day.

After three months, they found the bees stopped producing honey, egg production by the queen bee halved, and the size of the hive dramatically reduced.

It’s not just the honey that will be lost if populations plummet further. Bees are estimated to pollinate 90 commercial crops worldwide. Their economic value in the UK is estimated to be $290 million per year and around $12 billion in the U.S.

The Mobile Operators Association in England, which represents British cell companies, disagrees with the results. Link

The Telegraph has more reactions to this report. Link

Tags: bees, cell phones, colony collapse disorder, honeybees, radiation

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marishka
Jun 30th, 2010 at 10:12 am
My cellphone or certain food products…hmmm….what crops do honeybees aid in, again?
Miss Cellania
Jun 30th, 2010 at 10:16 am
All of them. Well, just fruits and vegetables, not grains.
Dru
Jun 30th, 2010 at 10:45 am
So now we will have to add EMI protection to all the bee hives?
John Giotta
Jun 30th, 2010 at 10:50 am
I’ve always thought it’s been digital broadcast and not cell. Both television and radio started broadcasting in digital fairly recently in the US and their signal strengths are much more powerful and much more blanketing.
Alexander
Jun 30th, 2010 at 10:52 am
So how do we reverse these effects??? Is there something that can be done other than just stopping cell phone usage???
heh
Jun 30th, 2010 at 10:57 am
I would like to see this experiment repeated. I’ve seen some other sketchy-type “experiments” coming from India before.
ron
Jun 30th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
oh yeah, india, where a “doctors” there were saying that the guy that lived on nothing but air for 70 years was not a fraud.

everyone knows the sun bathes the earth in a wide spectrum of EMFs every minute of every day, right? and how many hives where colony collapse disorder happened had cell phones strapped to them?
Tom the Scientist
Jun 30th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
This is junk science in it’s purest form. The “experiment” was run by placing cell phones on exactly one hive. One!

I ate a chocolate bar. Later I got a headache. Therefore we should ban chocolate because it gives everyone headaches. Hey! I’m a scientist! Who knew?
Rocky
Jun 30th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
It’s encouraging to see healthy skepticism. You would think such an experiment could shore up funding in the US or Canada, but no–it has to be in India.

Relax–there are bees everywhere.
Behemoth
Jul 1st, 2010 at 3:03 am
It may have been a poorly executed experiment, but I’ve heard the suggestion of mobile phones might affect bees a handful of times before.

Aside from the earlier Neatorama article (Landau University of Koblenz, Germany), I saw an interview with a beekeper somewhere (I forget where) who said hives thrive best wherever he can’t get phone reception.

Yes, for the most part unsubstatiated hearsay, but surely that’s a good place to start looking. Lets do some proper experiments. Let’s either prove or disprove it instead of arguing over inconclusive ‘evidence’.
Ko
Jul 1st, 2010 at 5:47 am
Rocky – the problem is that bees are being affected all over.
SuperCrap
Jul 1st, 2010 at 1:34 pm
If bees are so rare then why is honey cheaper than ever?? Conspiracy!!!!

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