Cell phones killing honey bees? Will GPS be the next technology blamed?
Interesting item regarding a suspected relationship between cell
phones and a current crisis with honeybees. Makes you wonder whether
GPS signals will be coming under scrutiny as well**** Cell phones wiping out bee populations: Will your mobile be the next
SUV?
Posted Apr 16th 2007 8:01PM by Sarah Gilbert
Filed under: Newspapers, Rants and raves, Economic data It was only a few weeks ago that I started reading about the plight of
commercial bees in Oregon, where I live, and other nearby agricultural
states: some mysterious force was causing what's called "Colony
Collapse Disorder" for untold (but, by all guesses, large) numbers of
bees used for pollinating crops up and down the Pacific Coast. One
beekeeper said that the vast majority of his colonies had just
disappeared -- the bees would leave, and never return to the hive,
presumably dying from hunger. Despite the seeming widespread nature of
the problem, agricultural authorities wouldn't confirm its severity,
and no one had solid numbers. Until now, a variety of unrelated and unsatisfactory theories had been
surfaced, though none even seemed half-right. Global warming. A bad
batch of the high-fructose corn syrup typically used to feed
commercial bees. Genetically modified crops. Pesticides. Mites. In the
past few days I've seen several bees around my home, buzzing in and
then fizzling out, dying slow, awful deaths on the sidewalk or
windowsill. My stomach began to sink. Bees are vital to the health of
so many of the world's plants. What could be done? Now a report from Britain, where bee losses are still denied by
agricultural authorities, although beekeepers are raising the alarm
(U.S. beekeepers claim 60% of West Coast populations and 70% of East
Coast bees have vanished): cell phone signals are disrupting bees'
natural navigation systems. While alarmist, it makes sense; when cell
phones are on, they're constantly crying for attention, pinging
whatever tower is nearby every few minutes so that the home tower can
keep track of the signal and send in whatever calls or messages come
its way. Think of all the millions of pings that bounce back and forth
across agricultural areas every week. I'm not a conspiracy theorist and never worried about fears that cell
phones cause brain cancer and cell death (although the reports seem to
indicate this could be true). But after reading these reports my first
urge is to turn off all the cell phones in the family and only use
them for emergencies. If this is true, cell phones could become the
SUV of 2008; a public display of a human putting its own comfort above
the needs of the environment at large. And I'm sticking to land-based
stocks for now! The world is changing in some pretty strange ways. |
Chuck
Apr 16
|
| Whatever the cause, I know who Harry would blame. |
John
Apr 18
|
| I thought the science was settled for this and that a vast majority of
scientists agree therefore it is not up for debate, we need to propose a
radio frequency trading program. |
BAR
Apr 18
|
| It has to be big honey! |
BAR
Apr 18
|
| Now there is a name for a band. Big Honey. Or a really large stripper. EEEWWWWWWW. |
Short
Apr 18
|
| Let me guess... On second thought... Never mind. :>) |
Short
Apr 18
|
| Is there some rule that I have to participate in every bit of nonsense
here? :>} There is? Oh. Dick Cheney did it. |
Harry
Apr 18
|
| Or a large striper! YAAAAAYYY! |
John
Apr 18
|
| You name your fish? |
Short
Apr 18
|
| Are you serious? Cell phone theory aside, GPS's are receive only - much
like an FM radio. On or off the signals are still there. Dan |
Dan
Apr 17
|
| What may not be known is whether it's the intermittency of cell phone
signals or the frequency range. Just like GPS, there is a nonstop
broadcast of cell phone signals to somebody, Heck, most any home with
a teenager can probably attest to that. :-) |
Chuck
Apr 17
|
| What may not be known is whether it's the intermittency of cell phone
signals or the frequency range. Just like GPS, there is a nonstop
broadcast of cell phone signals to somebody, Heck, most any home with
a teenager can probably attest to that. :-)
This is hillarious! Pass the popcorn. |
JimH
Apr 17
|
| Isn't there a correlation between when GPS went into operation and when
the bees started to decline? Hasn't it been within the last 30 years for
both? Cause and effect. |
BAR
Apr 17
|
| forth the following: |
Fred
Apr 18
|
| "This is hillarious!" has to rank right up there with "Your an idiot." Thanks for another classic contribution, JimH. You may not always be
the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but you contend very nicely for
the smartest ass. Really pisses you off to see anything boating
related interrupting discussions about hot water tanks and lawnmowers,
doesn't it? |
Chuck
Apr 17
|
|
If observations that something is interferring with the bees' ability
to navigate back and forth from the hive are correct, and if the
problem is indeed getting worse as alleged, then it could well be that
some technology that was introduced about the time the problem began
and has been increasing at about the same rate the bee populations
have been decreasing *could* (maybe!) be associated. A lot of ifs and maybes at this point, but it ought to be easy enough
to run a controlled experiment to see if the insects are confused by
any sort of electronic transmissions. |
Chuck
Apr 17
|
| Timothy McVeigh was a red haired Anglo-American. Watch out for those
guys. :-) (just kidding) If your point is supposed to be that we can't jump to any conclusions
based simply on timing, I have to agree. If your point is that its
totally impossible regardless of timing, I would say that we need to
do some experiments to say exactly whether cell phone signals, GPS
signals, or some other electronic transmissions are screwing with the
bees. |
Chuck
Apr 17
|
| I could buy into this theory in a New York minute. It's pretty much
proven that transmitted radio signals can screw up birds (think AF
PAVE/PAWS OTHR on the Cape) and there were all the problems the Navy
had with powerful sonar signals messing up blue whales and dolphins. It would make sense that really high frequency signals could mess up
insects. I'd like to see some hard experimentation though. |
Short
Apr 18
|
| Chuck Gould sprach forth the following:
The bee thing also coincides with the rise of reality shows. I think
cancelling Survivor and American Idol would fix the bees. It certainly
couldn't hurt. |
Fred
Apr 18
|
| "This is hillarious!" has to rank right up there with "Your an idiot." Thanks for another classic contribution, JimH. You may not always be
the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but you contend very nicely for
the smartest ass. Really pisses you off to see anything boating
related interrupting discussions about hot water tanks and lawnmowers,
doesn't it? _________________ If you want to classify yourself as an idiot, that is your option Chuck.
Some here may agree.me on the other hand think you are quite bright. All I did was make an obserervation. No name calling. No personal attack
on you. Yet it resulted in exactly those things from you..2 things
you have rallied the troops here against. Way to go Chuck. You have sunk to a new low. |
JimH
Apr 17
|
| BTW: Forgot to add: Nighty night and I hope you have a spectacular day
tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
JimH
Apr 17
|
| Doh! Edit |
JimH
Apr 17
|
| Doh! Another edit. |
JimH
Apr 17
|
| Glub, glub. |
Chuck
Apr 17
|
| both? Cause and effect.<< Or anecdotal. There needs to be some science behind it for any validity. --Mike |
Mike
Apr 18
|
| do some experiments to say exactly whether cell phone signals, GPS
signals, or some other electronic transmissions are screwing with the
bees.<< I agree wholeheartedly. I'm not discounting anything... I just want to see some evidence. --Mike |
Mike
Apr 18
|
| Maybe Autism is up in bees because of all the chemicals in the environment.
And they can not function. |
Calif
Apr 18
|
| GPS receivers don't transmit. The signals coming from the
satellites are probably on the order of picowatts (10^-12). |
-rick-
Apr 17
|
| Snipped Wow! Messages saying nothing, and messages correcting those. |
John
Apr 18
|
| Any time someone has to add that, well, they're a nutjob. |
Bill
Apr 18
|
| Why is global warming not the cause of this pending crisis also? |
John
Apr 18
|
| Could also be that they are on strike for higher honey wages. |
Short
Apr 18
|
| Interesting article, right up until I read, "(although the reports seem to
indicate this could be true)." Another alarmist with absolutely no
scientific evidence to back his statements. Anecdotal evidence at best (if
even that). I ate a bagle this morning and got into a car accident this
afternoon. Therefore, eating bagles must cause car accidents. Phooey. --Mike "Chuck Gould" <chuckgould.chuck@gmail.com> wrote in message |
Mike
Apr 17
|
| That's far fetched. But, it's probably true that your bagel caused some
farting which *definitely* contributed to global warming. |
John
Apr 17
|
| The difficulty could be, as we have seen repeatedly in any of these
"environmental" issues, that if enough people buy into the explanation
that cell phone signals are disrupting the bee-nav system there will
be a public clamor to "do something" about it. Then again there's
always the risk that if we wait until there is not the tiniest shred
of doubt regarding the phenomenon it might be too late to save the
bees. Somebody should conduct some controlled experiments to determine
whether the allegations are true. If they are, it could have an effect
on agricultural yield in any country industrialized enough to have a
lot of cell phones. Bees haven't had any problem with the steady signals of radio and TV
transmission bands, but maybe the two-way and sporadic transmissions
of probably 100 million cell phones is a different experience. In any event, this opens up a whole new field of "signal" pollution;
with items like VHF radio and GPS possibly coming under the microscope
if thiscause gets any traction. |
Chuck
Apr 17
|
