Various news agencies in the UK have carried a story in the past few days concerning the mass disappearance of honey bees, which is being potentially linked to radiation given off by mobile phones.
Researchers at Landau University, have found that bees will not return to their hives when a mobile phone is placed close by. The results of this research are being linked to recordings of mass hive abandonments, where the bees fly away to remote areas and eventually die. This phenomenon is described as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
Pollination of most of the world's crops is dependant upon the humble bumble bee and therefore a decline in the population would have a significant impact. According to the Independent Online:
"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 percent missing on the East Coast.
CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece."
If this hinted link between the decline of bee numbers and the increasing incidence of mobile phones is proved, it further supports an argument in favour of promoting and preserving areas of unspoiled, undeveloped wild landscape and wilderness, providing a safe habitat for wildlife outside of the influence of man.
You can read the full article online here.
Quote Source: The Independent Online
By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross
Published: 15 April 2007
