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Cell Phone Towers Pose a Threat to Honeybees, A New Study Shows
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A honey bee
A new study conducted in India shows that electromagnetic waves emitted by mobile phone towers and cellphones can pose a threat to honey bees, reports The Times of India. An experiment conducted in the southern state of Kerala found that a sudden fall in the bee population was caused by towers installed across the state by cellphone companies to increase their network. The electromagnetic waves emitted by the towers crippled the “navigational skills” of the worker bees that go out to collect nectar from flowers to sustain bee colonies, said Dr. Sainuddin Pattazhy, who conducted the study, said. He found that when a cell phone was kept near a beehive, the worker bees were unable to return, leaving the hives with only the queens and eggs and resulting in the collapse of the colony within ten days. Over 100,000 people in Kerala are engaged in apiculture and the dwindling worker bee population poses a threat to their livelihood. The bees also play a vital role in pollinating flowers to sustain vegetation. If towers and mobile phones further increase, honey bees might be wiped out in 10 years, Pattazhy said. The U.S. the honey bee populations have been on a decline since 2006. Colony losses nationwide were about 29 percent from all causes from Sept. 2009 to April 2009, according to a survey conducted by the Apiary Inspectors of Amerca and the U.S Department of Agriculture, reports Science Daily. About 26 percent of apiaries surveyed reported that some of their colonies died of colony collapse disorder (CCD), a phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive or European honey bee colony suddenly disappear.
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