Cell phones killing Bees!?!

Are Cell Phones Killing Off Bees?

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - Could cell phones be the cause of a massive decline in bee populations across Europe and North America?

Researchers in India think that radiation from mobile telephones is a key factor and is probably interfering with the navigational senses in bees, reports The Daily Telegraph .

Authors of the report, which appears in the journal Current Science , write: " Increase in the usage of electronic gadgets has led to electro-pollution of the environment. Honeybee behavior and biology has been affected by electro-smog since these insects have magnetite in their bodies which helps them in navigation."

The authors, Ved Prakash Sharma and Neelima Kumar from Chandigarh's Punjab University, wrote that both colony strength and the egg-laying rate of the queen declined significantly.

The study involved the comparison of bees in two hives in Punjab. They fitted one fitted with two mobile telephones that were powered on for two 15-minute sessions per day for three months, and placed dummy models in the second hive, reports The Telegraph.

At the end of the period the researchers say there was a dramatic decline in the size of the hive fitted with the mobile phone. Honey production also stopped and the queen bee in the hive with the phones produced only half the eggs as the one in the other hive, researchers found.

The decline has been blamed on various causes, including agricultural pesticides, climate change and genetically modified crops, reports Australian Broadcast Company .

"Previous work in this area has indicated this (mobile phone use) is not a real factor," Tim Lovett, of the British Beekeepers Association, tells The Telegraph. "If new data comes along we will look at it. At the moment we think is more likely to be a combination of factors including disease, pesticides and habitat loss."

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