Millions of Bees Die - Are Electromagnetic Signals To Blame?
Bees in the US are dying of some unknown cause - millions of them are leaving their hives and do not come back. What is happening? The problem has got a name - colony collapse disorder - but no apparent cause.
Bee hive
Some years back, France and other European countries had a similar, if less severe die-off of honey bees. At the time Gaucho, a poisonous seed treatment chemical produced by Bayer, was blamed, the die-off has continued in Europe, although at a comparatively slower pace.
The situation in the US seems even more severe than what happened in Europe, and certainly the onset is more sudden. According to The Independent, millions of honey bees are abandoning their hives and flying off to die, leaving beekeepers facing ruin and US agriculture under threat.
"Across the country, from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific, honey bee colonies have started to die off, abruptly and decisively. Millions of bees are abandoning their hives and flying off to die (they cannot survive as a colony without the queen, who is always left behind).Some beekeepers, especially those with big portable apiaries, or bee farms, which are used for large-scale pollination of fruit and vegetable crops, are facing commercial ruin - and there is a growing threat that America's agriculture may be struck a mortal blow by the loss of the pollinators. Yet scientists investigating the problem have no idea what is causing it."
On one of my weekly news grabs, I linked an article on the mysterious die-off of honey bees, and a reader commented, suggesting that emissions of GWEN, the Ground Wave Emergency Network, might be to blame. Here is what he had to say:
After reading several articles on the disappearance of the honeybee, the thought occurred that this appears to be happening only in the US. A Google search turned up nothing on this phenomenon in any other country, including Canada and Mexico.Why only the US? Also, why are nonsensical excuses being offered up by the pseudo-scientific community for the demise of the bee?
Researchers have dubbed the syndrome the "colony collapse disorder." They say the bees presumably are dying in the fields, perhaps becoming exhausted or disoriented and eventually dying from exposure to the cold. Or, it could just be that the bees are stressed out. Give me a break!
Tired bees? Dying from weather exposure? Stressed out bees? Disoriented?
Just imagine a tired bee for a moment. When’s the last time you saw a tired bee?Dying from weather exposure? Weather cold enough to kill bees in their hives would also decimate other insect populations. No report on that, huh?
Stressed out bees? What, all of a sudden bees get stressed out? What about bees in other countries? They don’t seem to be having a problem at all.
Disoriented bees? Ah, well this is a possibility. But what would make them disoriented? Perhaps it is the 250 HZ signals being pumped out of GWEN stations all over America. This signal makes people angry, so that they support the administrations idea of going after Iran and violence in general. It works great for mass manipulation of opinion. Unfortunately, the same signal will induce a misdirection of up to 10 degrees in the navigation ability of the honeybee. They go away from the hive and never come back because they can no longer find it. That’s why it’s only happening in the US.
Perhaps the most puzzling aspect of this is that US media has never ventured to question why it is only happening here. Somebody must have told them to clam up on this issue or the current crop of US reporters got their degrees in journalism out of a Cracker Jack box.
Now what the hell are GWEN stations, you might want to ask, and what could they have to do with the catastrophic die-off of honey bees...
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GWEN, Microwave Arrays and Mobile Phone Radiation
GWEN, the Ground Wave Emergency Network, is a military communications network, consisting of some 300 transmitters dotting the whole of the continental United States. Each tower is 300-500 feet high. The stations are from 200 to 250 miles apart, so that a signal can go from coast to coast from one station to another. The official purpose is "to ensure adequate communication between command authorities and land-based strategic nuclear forces in the event of a nuclear attack on the United States mainland." But others say a hidden use of the system may be "electromagnetic mind-altering technology" by the use of ELF or Extremely Low Frequency waves.According to a 1982 Air Force review of biotechnology, ELF has a number of potential military uses, including "dealing with terrorist groups, crowd control, controlling breaches of security at military installations, and antipersonnel techniques in tactical warfare." The same report states:
"Electromagnetic systems would be used to produce mild to severe physiological disruption or perceptual distortion or disorientation. They are silent, and counter-measures to them may be difficult to develop."Robert O. Becker, M.D., in his book "Crosscurrents: The Perils of Electropollution" said:
"GWEN is a superb system, in combination with cyclotron resonance, for producing behavioral alterations in the civilian population. The average strength of the steady geomagnetic field varies from place to place across the United States. Therefore, if one wished to resonate a specific ion in living things in a specific locality, one would require a specific frequency for that location. The spacing of GWEN transmitters 200 miles apart across the United States would allow such specific frequencies to be 'tailored' to the geomagnetic-field strength in each GWEN area."The bees seem to be playing the role that canary birds had in the mines, warning us of impending desaster. Are these insects, by their unprecedented behavior of flying off without returning to their hives, showing that something insidious is going on?
According to a message from Art Kab, electromagnetic waves may well have the capacity of disorienting not only bees but a number of flying creatures. Here is a specific instance involving bees he quotes:
At Cornell Univ. honeybees in a hive relocated into a new building became disoriented. After extensive research ruled out other causes, someone noticed the hive was next to the building's electric transformer. The bees were confused by 60 hz magnetism strong enough to interfere with homing and communication to gather nectar and pollen. (http://www.ratical.org/ratville/RofD4.html)In Germany, a study of honeybees irradiated with DECT mobile phone base station radiation found that only few of the irradiated bees returned to the hive, and that they required more time to return than the non irradiated bees. Also, the weight of the honeycombs of the irradiated bees was found to be smaller than those in the hives of non irradiated bees. (Stever H, Kuhn J, Otten C, Wunder B, Harst W. Verhaltensaenderung unter elektromagnetischer Exposition. Pilotstudie. Institut fuer Mathematik. Arbeitsgruppe Bildungsinformatik. Universitaet Koblenz-Landau; 2005. http://agbi.uni-landau.de/materialien.htm)
See also
http://canterbury.cyberplace.org.nz/ouruhia/ Ouruhia Web, a New Zealand electromagnetic waves website.Firstenberg, A. 1997: Microwaving Our Planet: The Environmental Impact of the Wireless Revolution. Cellular Phone Taskforce. Brooklyn, NY 11210.
Alfonso Balmori on EMFacts.
Other indications put together by Art Kab about the effects suffered not only by bees but also birds and farm animals from the effects of cell phone radiation:
The effects of EMR are being felt by wildlife and the environment as a whole, Birds, bees, worms, trees are all being affected. We need to fight for not only the future of mankind but for the future of the whole environment.
Vienna physicians are displaying information posters in doctor's surgeries. They state radiation from mobile phones is far from being harmless as they have been told by the cell phone companies. They have therefore, in order to act responsibly, the Chamber of Doctors in Vienna, Austria, has decided to inform people about potential medical risks.
His findings, and subsequent related work by Dr Cyril Smith (Smith and Baker, 1982), seem relevant also to the earlier and more generally accepted studies on bees and homing pigeons, both of which are known to have receptors which are able to sense the Earth's magnetic field and its variations, which they use to help direct their survival behavior. My own extraordinary first experience of complete disorientation below the lines may also be relevant; I had never experienced this before, though I have done so since, most notably after I had held up a fluorescent tube for over an hour, to be photographed under the lines; the next day, after a distressingly sleepless night, I found what looked like a burn on that shoulder.
www.bewisepolarize.com/man-made%20emf%20sources.htm
(link no longer active)Our cheap transistor radios can pick up and separate out hundreds of radio signals at levels of a few hundreds of microvolts/metre. More sophisticated communications receivers can work down to levels of about 10 microvolts/metre. Radio-astronomers work on informational signals from stars at less than 1 microvolt/metre - this is a power level of about 0.000 000 000 001 microwatt/cm2 (1 attowatt/cm2 !!). We can now detect and create pictures from signals from spacecraft at our outer planets using transmit powers similar to those use by mobile phones of a few watts!
Honeybees have been shown to be sensitive to magnetic flux differences of 1 nanotesla (10 microGauss) [4][Theoretically humans could also be sensitive down to less than this level (pineal thermal noise c. 0.24 nanotesla - Smith, 1985). Various sea creatures can detect voltage gradients of a few 10's of microvolts/metre.
Biological stochastic resonance from regular pulsing EMFs can effectively amplify coherent signals (like power EMFs) by vast amounts.
What arrogant nonsense to suggest that living systems need to be "cooked" before they realize they are being bombarded by signals and that microwaves of 100 volts/metre are harmless to us.
http://members.aol.com/gotemf/emf/animals.htm
Honey bees navigate by observing changes as small as 0.6% in the Earth's magnetic field (2.5 mG out of 400 mG). Other studies have shown that other animals, such as sea turtles and homing pigeons, can navigate using the Earth's magnetic field as a guide. In order to navigate to precision, it is necessary to have many magnetosomes with a permanent dipole moment which are able to maintain their direction in the Earth's magnetic field while being buffeted by Brownian thermal fluctuations.
V.3. Animals: Honey bees follow B fields (Walker/Bitterman, J. Comp. Physiol. 157, 67-73, 1995, and Science 265, 95, 1994) down to a few mG DC accuracy and sea turtles turn when B varies at earth's locations (Science 264, 661 (1994).
42. "Honeybees Can Be Trained to Respond to Very Small Changes in Geomagnetic Field Intensity," M.M. Walker and M.E. Bitterman, J. Exp. Biology 145, 489-494 (1989). (A)- - -
Although the major trouble seems to be in the US, beekeepers in many European countries are also reporting heavy losses. Perhaps we should not concentrate, therefore, on one particular system of electromagnetic emissions. Other candidates that have world wide effects are the HAARP ionospheric heaters and the explosive growth of the cellular communications system in just about every country.
Mobile phone providers are covering the earth with a fine-mesh network of microwave-emitting senders and repeaters, in addition to the billions of mobile phones we are using.
One of the major points of trouble seems to be that the radiations from mobile phones have passed from analog to digital in the last few years, which means they are pulsed at around 220 "packets" per second. That frequency is very close to the native frequency of the bees' hum, which has been measured to be in the range of 190 to 250 cycles per second.
There are those who warn of health dangers of the mobile phone craze, but the mainstream response seems to be "here comes the tinfoil hat brigade".
Are we going to run our of food before we realize what we're doing?
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Update June 2007: How this story is developing and how the cell phone industry is doing everything to throw doubt on the microwave/cell phones hypothesis...
A Question to and comment by Dr George L. Carlo of the Science and Public Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
Dear Dr. Carlo:
I have read recently in Salon.com that the theory that bees are disappearing because of exposure to EMR is not supported by any science. You were on Good Morning America supporting that theory. Who is correct?Carol H
Amherst, MA
Dear Carol:
Unfortunately, the situation with the bees is a page out of the playbook that we deal with all the time with the mobile phone industry. When the bee story first broke, it was based on a German study that showed information carrying radio waves disrupted the ability of bees to make it back to their hives. That work was made public about two months ago. There were other data to support it as well. You can see some of that on our SWI website -- note especially an exceptionally insightful article by Milt Bowling posted there.The news media ran with the story, bolstered a great deal by a quote attributed to Albert Einstein something along these lines: 'watch the bees. when they disappear, man will disappear within four years'......The mobile phone industry was caught off-guard by the widespread media attention the story garnered.
After the first news cycle, the mobile phone industry 'hit squad' went into action. First, they planted stories that cast doubt on the Einstein quote. Never before have I seen such a desperate attempt to distance a quote from a figure as revered as Albert Einstein. In the process, his name was besmirched. Very sad. Next, they conscripted scientists from a number of universities to begin going public with other explanations...viruses, bacteria, pesticides etc., etc., etc.. These alternatives have been making the rounds over the past month. The mobile phone industry is putting quite a bit of money into the pockets of these scientists by supporting their work regarding viruses and alternative explanations. The industry is dealing with it as a politics and public relations problem.... thus, manipulation of the public perception is the appropriate remedy for them. Sadly, this is business as usual for the mobile phone industry.Most people in the public don't know the back story, so they do not see the manipulation coming or have the necessary bases for skepticism to see through it. But here is the bottom line:
The colony collapse disorder has occurred concurrently on four continents within a very short time frame. If the reason was biological or chemical, there would be a pattern of epidemic spread.... we would be able to trace the spread of bee disappearance or Colony Collapse Disorder from a source similar to the spread of SARS a few years ago. That is not the case. The condition has hit each continent at roughly the same time. That would mean the cause has to have hit the continents at the same time as well. Mobile phones meet that criterion.None of the biological or chemical hypotheses actually have a mechanistic explanation that is plausible. The science for the biological and chemical alternatives is far thinner than the science supporting the EMR connection. A case of the pot calling the kettle black.
The disruption of intercellular communication hypothesis that we now know effects cell membranes in most species is biologically plausible...and no other theory has that support.
The basis for a biological mechanism, coupled with the saturation in information carrying radio waves we have globally in the past 14 months, provides the underpinning. In 2004, we had the first billion cell phone users globally, the accumulation over 20 years; by mid 2006, we had the second billion; today we have surpassed three billion. That suggests we are near a saturation point of these waves in the ambient environment. The bees are likely the harbinger or the proverbial 'canaries in the coal mine'.
Taken together, EMR is the only explanation that makes sense regarding the disappearing bees: the timing is correct -- the problem has occurred primarily within the past two years....when we have nearly tripled the background level of information carrying radio waves; the pattern is global so that suggests a cause that is globally present; there is at least one peer-reviewed study that supports it, and there is a mechanism documented that lends biological plausibility.
In our view, this is a serious 'red flag' of risk that should be heeded. This is yet another example of mobile phone industry orchestration aimed at distracting the public from data that can save lives.
___________________
Dr. George L. Carlo
Science and Public Policy Institute
1101 Pennsylvania Ave. NW -- 7th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20004
scienceandpublicpolicy.org/
202-756-7744
Update August 2008: Is Colony Collapse the price of e.m.f. progress?
In this presentation to the beekepers' association in Glastonbury, UK, Barrie Trower, a consultant to several associations concerned with the effects of electromagnetic waves on people, outlines the physical basis of how, in all likelihood, pulsed microwave radiation from rapidly growing communications networks disorients and thereby kills bees, leading to the atypical collapse of bee populations world wide.
Update November 2009:
More recently (the English translation is from March 2009) several scientists and doctors of the German "Competence Initiative" have compiled a lot of research into a paper that explains how pulsed radiofrequency radiation damages biological tissues and disorients both bees and birds. The paper is available here:Bees, Birds and Mankind - Destroying Nature by 'Electrosmog'
This is an extremely important brochure that has been composed and sponsored by the Competence Initiative, an alliance of scientists and medical doctors who are concerned with electromagnetic pollution of our environment. The negative impact of cellphone technology on insects and birds is posing an extremely grave risk on the environmental health of the planet. Human beings are not immune. Several mechanisms of damage are known in Medicine. Cellphone technology was never safety tested and now both animals and humans around the world are paying the consequences of this criminal neglect sponsored by the World Health Organization and the ICNIRP (the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection).
This is a long read at over 40 pages, but it is the best compilation of the science regarding radiation damage to insects, birds and mammals I have yet seen. Explains the problem in layman's terms but also provides all the scientific references for who wants to delve deeper into the rabbit hole.
See also:
When Bees Disappear, Will Man Soon Follow?
On a recent conference call, Dr. Carlo laid the blame for the sudden demise (often within 72 hours) of entire bee colonies on the recent proliferation of electromagnetic waves (EMF). He cited the startling statistic that, at present, there are some 2.5 billion cell phone users around the world. While this (plus the explosive growth of cell phone towers) used to be the major concern, the problem has been significantly exacerbated by the recent introduction of satellite radio. Dr. Carlo commented that the constant electromagnetic background noise seems to disrupt intercellular communication within individual bees, such that many of them cannot find their way back to the hive.
The problem could well be in our unbridled use of electromagnetic radiation in communications, which is one of the great unacknowledged health threats not only for humans, but it may be killing the bees as well.
EMF frequencies or microwave frequencies are overriding normal control mechanisms in the body and shutting off energy production
As in radio and other transmitters, crystals act to convert certain discrete frequencies into electrical signals. Before we had all of the electro-pollution, animals could simply orient themselves to the earths electromagnetic signature. Additionally animals could store into memory at a subconscious level the discrete signatures of subtle variations in electromagnetic signalling from various regions. This would explain the highly specific nature of migratory behaviour seen in certain animals. What has not been appreciated is the ability which has probably evolved over time to see, complex patterns that are generated from the earth's electromagnetic signature.
Protecting Bees From Mobile Phone Radiation
An old truck has been until recently the domicile of a total of seven bee hives. Siegfried Vogel (in picture) has lost four of his bee colonies in the past year - those which were located behind wooden shielding on his truck. His son Reinhold has had better luck: He still owns his three colonies of bees which are located behind and protected by a portion of aluminum shielding on the same truck. Hence, Siegfried Vogel is now advising all beekeepers to protect their colonies of bees from mobile-phone radiation with aluminum shielding.
http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/issues/emr.php?id=bees
Catastrophic Bee Population Decline May Be Related to Bt-Spliced GMO Crops
"Nobody knows why the bees are dying. There is evidence though that GE crops contribute to this, in particular insect resistant crops producing the Bt-toxin. Though healthy bees do not seem to be affected by Bt pollen, a scientist called Hans-Hinrich Kaatz in Germany has found that bees infested with parasites and fed with Bt pollen were affected and died at a high rate.
City Beekeeping
Just to get a bit of an idea of what it involves to work with beesA Natural Mystic: The Honey Bee is Speaking to Us
Other causes that are effecting the bees are electromagnetic frequencies that are being pumped into the air by all the cell phone towers and military technologies such as HAARP. These frequencies are having an effect on the bees along with the chemtrails that work in tandem with these frequencies as plasma antennas. Bees use natural electromagnetic frequencies to hone in on where the flowers are that they gather their pollen and nectar from and to speak to one another. Birds do the same when it comes to traveling south for the winter.
15 April 2007: Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
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.
Bid to halt bumblebee decline
I suspect not only are honeybees in decline, but other species of bees/insects as well. Here is an article on bumblebees going extinct - at least some species.Cellular phone uses linked to bee deaths
Weatherall is among those who believe a report out of Landau University in Koblenz, Germany, that links cellphone radiation to bee behaviour. Weatherall said that he, too, was forced out of his new home when hydro-electric lines made him hypersensitive to electricity. He said his symptoms included constant ringing in his ears, headaches and nausea and eventually led to a diagnosis of prostate cancer. "Some people are virtually suicidal they're so upset with the way they feel all the time," said Weatherall.
Competing view: Neonicotinoid insecticides are harmful to the honeybee
A team of scientist led by the National Institute of Beekeeping in Bologna, Italy, found that pollen obtained from seeds dressed with imidacloprid contains significant levels of the insesticide, and suggested that the polluted pollen was one of the main causes of honeybee colony collapse. Analysis of maize and sunflower crops originating from seeds dressed with imidacloprid indicated that large amounts of the insecticide will be carried back to honey bee colonies. Sub-lethal doses of imidacloprid in sucrose solution affected homing and foraging activity of honeybees. Bees fed with 500 or 1 000 ppb (parts per billion) of the insecticide in sucrose solutions failed to return to the hive and disappeared altogether, while bees that had imbibed 100 ppb solutions were delayed for 24 h compared with controls. Imidacloprid in sucrose solution fed to the bees in the laboratory impaired their communication for a few hours. Sub-lethal doses of imidacloprid in laboratory and field experiment decreased flight activity and olfactory discrimination, and olfactory learning performance was impaired.
Electromagnetic Radiation: Influences on Honeybees
(Preprint of a study to be presented at the IIAS - InterSymp Conference, the 19th Conference on System Research, Informatics & Cybernetics, which will be held from July 30th to August 4th, 2007 in Baden-Baden, Germany)
Organic Beekeepers Report No Losses While Conventional Operations Report Massive Colony Losses
Who should be surprised that the major media reports forget to tell us that the dying bees are actually hyper-bred varieties that we coax into a larger than normal body size? It sounds just like the beef industry. And, have we here a solution to the vanishing bee problem? Is it one that the CCD Working Group, or indeed, the scientific world at large, will support? Will media coverage affect government action in dealing with this issue?"
Town rejects mast to save bees
Council chiefs are rethinking plans for mobile telephone masts because of fears that their radiation may be causing bees to disappear. Eastbourne's planning committee has refused permission for a new mast unless and until it is convinced there is no danger to the insects, and Bolton council has launched an investigation into the threat. Last month, The Independent on Sunday reported exclusively that exploratory research at Germany's Landau University suggested the radiation interferes with bees' navigation systems.
This was supported yesterday by Ferdinand Ruzicka, emeritus professor at the University of Vienna. He revealed that two-thirds of the beekeepers he surveyed who had a mobile phone mast within 300m had suffered "unexplained colony collapse". Professor Ruzicka believes the radiation may increase the insects' vulnerability to disease.
Do you have Microwave Sickness?
Dr. George Carlo, who used to run a multi-million dollar research program for the cell phone industry and went public regarding the dangers posed by cell phones, uses the analogy of putting a frog in water. If you put a frog in boiling water, it will jump out. However, if you put a frog in cold water and gradually heat the water, you can cook the frog because the frog's body will adjust to the slight changes in temperature and it will not notice it is being cooked. Well, the same thing might be happening to an unsuspecting public - a public that has not been informed about the real dangers of microwave radiation from cell phones, WiFi and other high-frequency-radiation emitting devices and antennas. The truth of the matter, your cell phone and your WiFi might very well indeed be making you and those around you sick!
Drowning in a Sea of Microwaves
The increasing popularity of wi-fi comes on the heels of the explosive growth in wireless mobile telephones, and amid heightened concerns over the health hazards of saturating levels of electromagnetic radiation. Microwaves at current exposure levels are linked to brain damage, DNA damage, brain tumours, cancers, microwave sickness, impairment of cognitive functions, impairment of reproduction and fertility, affecting humans, rodents, birds, and bees.
Immune system 'attacked by mobile phones'
"We found that the competence of these white blood cells was depleted after being exposed for seven or eight hours to a mobile phone on standby. There's a possibility that we are damaging lymphocyte performance simply by having these phones on standby next to our bodies."
Where are the Birds and Bees?
Article by Milt Bowling, published in Health Action Magazine, Canada.
Milt Bowling is a consultant and member of HANS, the Canadian Health Action Network Society, a non-profit consumer organization that investigates methods, types and systems of preventative health care and natural therapeutics. Milt is also president of the Clean Energy Foundation, which works with the public, industry and government for better regulation and safer technology.
Dr George Carlo: Radiation Is Killing the Bees
Colony collapse disorder has occurred concurrently on four continents within a very short time frame. If the reason was biological or chemical, there would be a pattern of epidemic spread .... we would be able to trace the spread of bee disappearance or Colony Collapse Disorder from a source similar to the spread of SARS a few years ago. That is not the case. The condition has hit each continent at roughly the same time. That would mean the cause has to have hit the continents at the same time as well. Mobile phones meet that criterion.
Emergency Motion on Protecting the Honeybee
Honeybees have been disappearing worldwide. 1 Across the United States, beekeepers have been losing 30 to 90% or more of colonies in a "colony collapse disorder" (CCD) that's causing huge economic losses not only to beekeepers but also to fruit and vegetable growers. CCD has been reported from Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and the UK. Many believe that when the honeybee disappears, our species will soon follow. Will the European Commission take the appropriate measures to halt the colony collapse of the honeybees?
Asian Parasite Killing Western Bees - Scientist
His team have also identified this parasite in bees from Austria, Slovenia and other parts of Eastern Europe and assume it has invaded from Asia over a number of years. Treatment for nosema ceranae is effective and cheap -- 1 euro (US$1.4) a hive twice a year -- but beekeepers first have to be convinced the parasite is the problem.Another theory points a finger at mobile phone aerials, but Higes notes bees use the angle of the sun to navigate and not electromagnetic frequencies.
But others are saying that Nosema ceranae is not the answer. Evidently there's more investigating and thinking to be done...
Condemned Cells - Dramatic new facts on Honey bees dying
Although the 'Telegraph' story is well written and well researched, it has one major and extremely important mistake, the reporter writes off mobile phones and electro magnetic radiation as the cause of the honey bees dying. The reporter's reasoning for making this statement is entirely wrong. Two German scientist reported their experiment with a cordless telephone as being inconclusive, yet the results of their experiment gave great cause for concern and very strong reasons why much further research needs to be completed into the health effects of electro magnetic radiation on honey bees. The two scientists have not declared that EMR is safe, they have not stated that EMR is not causing CCD and they have not suggested that further research is not needed. The scientists are simply been cautious of what they have researched and found. There is still every reason to believe that EMR is involved with honey bees dying and that serious research must be conducted quickly.
Virus Implicated In Colony Collapse Disorder In Bees
A team led by scientists from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Pennsylvania State University, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, University of Arizona, and 454 Life Sciences has found a significant connection between the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) and colony collapse disorder (CCD) in honey bees.
The Vanishing of the Bees
This is a film in progress. You can see a trailer, get some information on what will be in the film and you can help with a donation if you like.
Birds, Bees and Mobile Microwaves
Our natural world is under assault from human activity. The trouble is, to recognise damage to nature reveals also the risk to ourselves. 'Progress' is in the hands not of individual people, nor their elected representatives and politicians. It is in the hands of the free market, the large corporates who set the direction of our world through creating profit streams however they can. We don't have to identify this as evil; rather it is almost inevitable. We are persuaded of the benefits of convenience and consumerism, and we are the source of the profits and the stimulant to corporate behaviour and the setters of social trends. What we must do is to observe, to ask questions, and be honest enough with ourselves to recognise that nothing we do is without consequence. If we are custodians of our children's futures, we must accept individual and joint responsibility for the condition of our planet.
Honeybees may be wiped out in 10 years
Last year, more than 11 per cent of all beehives inspected were wiped out, although losses were higher in some areas. In London, about 4,000 hives - two-thirds of the bee colonies in the capital - were estimated to have died over last winter. Of the eight colonies inspected so far this year, all have been wiped out.
April 2008: "Major Disaster" for Bees May Jeopardize Washington State's Crops
"It's a major disaster in Western Washington. We are into a huge emergency situation," said Yakima beekeeper Eric Olson, who runs the state's largest commercial pollination business.While his hives in Central and Eastern Washington have survived, Olson said he has lost 80 percent of his Western Washington hives - more than 4,000 in all - to the new pathogen. Other commercial pollinators with bees in Western Washington were just as hard hit. "I'm scared, and I don't mind saying so," Olson said.
The Disappearing Bees: CCD and Electromagnetic Radiation
by Colin Buchanan
A timeline documenting the disappearance of the bees and Colony Collapse Disorder
No causal agent has been agreed upon so far for the disappearance of large numbers of honey bees. Perhaps politics is coming into this as it would be a heavy blow to a very profitable and in many senses vital communications industry if their use of the airwaves were linked to health effects, even if "only" on the bees. Yes, you can find more virus and parasite infestation. But would that not be entirely consistent with a weakening influence of em radiation leaving the little critters open to secondary trouble?
Are bees being wiped out by mobile em frequency tempest?
Martin Weatherall of the Hese Project says that apart from pesticides and other possible causes, a basic weakening influence on the bees leading to colony collapse may well be the thousandfold increase in technical radiation, particularly from mobile phones, in recent years.
Good vibrations could save vanishing bees
Scientists at the Roslin-based firm Global Bioenergetics think disturbance to bees from mobile phones, radio signals, wi-fi and microwaves is disrupting them with devastating results.Stress caused to the bees by the radiation could be damaging their immune systems, leaving them prone to increasing levels of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides sprayed on crops.
The scientists are trying out a new device, called a Bioemitter, that transmits electromagnetic waves to provide a stable environment and reduce stress for the bees in their hives, boosting their immune system.
NO REST for our bees! (PDF)
(Original in French: Pas de répit pour nos avettes)
On the IndyMedia UK website, Colin Buchanan reported on 22 February 2008 about colony collapse disorder and the disappearance of bees in relation with electronic radiation. Several of the referenced articles can be found on this page. The relation between the disappearance of bees and electromagnetic radiation is emphasized.
Stung by losses, nation's beekeepers try to rebuild
Jeff Pettis, lead researcher at the service's Bee Research Lab in Beltsville, Md., who conducted the survey, said there are no clear-cut answers. "We don't have one thing we can point to; we're looking at a lot of combinations," Pettis said. "It's a combination of some primary stress on the colony that could include low-level pesticide exposure, poor nutrition, Varroa mites — or something else — that allow visitors to take advantage of a weakened host. Then we're seeing a secondary invader actually kill the colony." Despite plenty of attention for several years, the problem is still growing.What about electromagnetic radiation as a weakening influence. There seems to be a real reluctance to even consider that possibility. Perhaps the billions governments rake in from selling "spectrum" to mobile operators preclude entertaining that there could be anything wrong with electromagnetic pollution?
September 2008: 'Electrosmog' could kill beekeepers' buzz
Mobile phones, Wi-Fi systems, electric power lines and similar sources of "electrosmog" are disrupting nature on a massive scale, causing birds and bees to lose their bearings, fail to reproduce and die, a conference has heard.Dr Ulrich Warnke - who has been researching the effects of man-made electrical fields on wildlife for more than 30 years - told the conference, organised by the Radiation Research Trust at the Royal Society in London and held in the past week, that "an unprecedented dense mesh of artificial magnetic, electrical and electromagnetic fields" has been generated, overwhelming the "natural system of information" on which the species rely.
April 2009: Honeybee Collapse Strikes Japan, Up to Fifty Percent of Honeybees Gone
For the first time, Japan has been hit with a large-scale collapse of honeybee populations like that experienced in other countries around the world."There have been small-scale honeybee losses for many years, but a massive collapse like they had in the U.S. is very unusual," said Kiyoshi Kimura of the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science. "We must investigate the situation in Japan."
June 2009: Calcium -- the secret to honeybees' memory
Long-term memory formation in honeybees is instigated by a calcium ion cascade. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology have shown that calcium acts as a switch between short- and long-term storage of learned information.I am thinking this may be a clue to Colony Collapse, where bees simply leave the hive and do not return. Could it be a (long term) memory problem? I have previously speculated on a link between CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) and electromagnetic waves from mobile phones and other sources saturating the environment.
According to a study by Carl F. Blackman, alterations of Calcium ion activity are caused by ELF (Extra Low Frequency) and RF (Radio Frequency) waves. Henry Lai, in his article "Neurological Effects of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Radiation Relating to Wireless Communication Technology" references several studies that found Calcium efflux (outfow) from the brains of test animals...
Since no clear pathogenic evidence has been found to explain CCD in bee populations, the electromagnetic hypothesis may gain some traction with this new study.
December 2009: Cell phones' waves found to disorient honeybees
According to an article published in the Times of India, a study in Kerala found that cell phone towers caused a rapid decline in their honeybee population and that they could cause a complete collapse of the bee population in 10 years. Dr. Sainuddin Pattazhy, who conducted the study, concluded that the electromagnetic waves from the towers shorted out the navigational abilities of the worker bees so they couldn't find their way back to their hive after collecting pollen.
June 2010: Mobile phones responsible for disappearance of honey bee
Now researchers from Chandigarh's Punjab University claim they have found the cause which could be the first step in reversing the decline: They have established that radiation from mobile telephones is a key factor in the phenomenon and say that it probably interfering with the bee's navigation senses.
They set up a controlled experiment in Punjab earlier this year comparing the behaviour and productivity of bees in two hives – one fitted with two mobile telephones which were powered on for two fifteen minute sessions per day for three months. The other had dummy models installed.After three months the researchers recorded a dramatic decline in the size of the hive fitted with the mobile phon, a significant reduction in the number of eggs laid by the queen bee. The bees also stopped producing honey.
The queen bee in the "mobile" hive produced fewer than half of those created by her counterpart in the normal hive.
They also found a dramatic decline in the number of worker bees returning to the hive after collecting pollen. Because of this the amount of nectar produced in the hive also shrank.
Mobile phones are 'to blame for the sudden decline in the world's bee population'The study – published in the beekeepers' magazine Apidologie – found that the phone signals confused the bees ...
- - -
Dr. phil. nat. Daniel Favre
Biologist and apiary adviserhas transmitted the following statement concerning the scientific article entitled
"Mobile phone-induced honeybee worker piping"
published in Apidologie, DOI: 10.1007/s13592-011-0016-x
http://www.springerlink.com/content/bx23551862212177/fulltext.pdf
....................................."Active mobile phone handsets have a dramatic impact on the behavior of the bees, namely by inducing the worker piping signal."
"In natural conditions, worker piping either announces the swarming process of the bee colony or is a signal of a disturbed bee colony."
"For future experiments, in complement to the present original study and in order to reach more "natural" conditions, mobile phone apparatuses should be placed at various increasing distances away from the hives."
"We should ask ourselves, whether the plethora of mobile phone masts also have an impact on the behaviour of the honeybees."
"Among other factors such as the varroa mite and pesticides for example, signals from mobile phones and masts could be contributing to the decline of honeybees around the world ; I am calling the international scientific community for more research in this field."
"This work was performed under the full responsibility of the main author (D.F.)."
RESONANCE - BEINGS OF FREQUENCYHere is a recent documentary (2012) that tends very much to confirm what is said in this article: That humans *and* bees are affected by electromagnetic frequencies as emitted by our communication equipment. It is on Vimeo and just under an hour and a half long. Very much recommended.
RESONANCE - BEINGS OF FREQUENCY from james russell on Vimeo.
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Tuesday March 6 2007
updated on Saturday February 22 2014URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2007/03/06/millions_of_bees_die_are_electromagnetic_signals_to_blame.htm
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