ISIS Press Release 25/04/07
Mobile Phones and Vanishing Bees
The recent boom in third generation mobile phones may be
the main culprit for colony collapse disorder in honeybees. Dr. Mae-Wan
Ho
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 Colony collapse a new
phenomenon
Bees worldwide have been involved in a disappearing act
called “colony collapse disorder” over the past two years [1]
(Mystery
of Disappearing Honeybees, this series), with little sign
of the disease or infestations that have resulted in massive
loss of colonies in the past. The bees simply leave the hives
and fail to return. Beekeepers and scientists alike are
stymied as to the cause of this strange phenomenon.
One likely culprit is a new class of systemic pesticides,
which are not only sprayed on crops, but also used universally
to dress seeds in conventional agriculture, and can confuse
and disorientate bees at very low concentrations [2] (Requiem
for the Honeybee, this series). Another candidate is
radiation from mobile phone base stations that has become
nearly ubiquitous in Europe and North America where the bees
are vanishing; this possibility is considerably strengthened
by preliminary findings that bees fail to return to the hives
if cordless phone base stations are placed in them.
Simple experiment with dramatic results
Researchers at Landau University in Germany designed a
simple experiment for students on the Environmental Science
course [3]. Eight mini-hives, each with approximately 8 000
bees were set up for the experiment. Four of them were
equipped with a DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless
Telecommunication)-station at the bottom of the hive, and the
other four without the DECT-station served as controls.
At the entrance of each hive, a transparent plastic tube
enabled the experimenters to watch the marked bees entering
and leaving the hive, so they can be counted and their time of
return after release recorded for a period of 45 minutes.
The experimenters also studied building behaviour by
measuring the area of the honeycomb and its weight.
In the course of the experiment, three colonies exposed to
mobile phone radiation and one non-exposed control colony
broke down. The total weights of the honeycombs in all
colonies, including those at the time of breakdown were
compared. The controls weighed 1 326g, while those exposed to
the DECT-stations weighed only 1 045g, a difference of 21
percent. The total area of the honeycomb in the controls was 2
500, compared to just 2050 in the exposed hives.
But it was the number of returning bees and their returning
times that were vastly different. For two control hives, 16
out of 25 bees returned in 45 minutes. For the two
microwave-exposed hives, however, no bees at all returned to
one hive, and only six returned to the other.
Cordless phone base station widely used in homes and
offices
These dramatic results are of a preliminary nature, but one
should bear in mind that the DECT-station is a simple cordless
phone base, widely used in homes and offices.
It emits microwave radiation of about 1 900 MHz
continuously, which is frequency modulated at 100 Hz. The
average power is 10 mW, with a peak of 250 mW. It represents
the exposure levels of perhaps tens of millions worldwide
living near mobile phone base stations, or have cordless
phones in their homes or offices.
The same scientists had carried out an earlier experiment
with the cordless phone base on a standby mode, in which the
average power is 2.5 mW, and that appeared to have had no
effect on the bees [4, 5].
Clearly the present findings need to be taken much further,
but their significance should not be downplayed for a number
of reasons. The findings are compatible with evidence
accumulating from investigations on many other species
including humans, showing that mobile phone radiation is
associated with a range of health hazards including cancers
[6] (Drowning
in a Sea of Microwaves, SiS 34). Furthermore, bees
are known to be extremely sensitive to magnetic and
electromagnetic fields, and there have been many suggestions
that they could be used as an indicator species for
electromagnetic pollution.
Bees as indicator species for electromagnetic
pollution
Experiments dating well back to the last century have
documented the phenomenal sensitivity of honeybees to
electromagnetic fields. Bees use the earth’s magnetic field to
navigate. Free-flying honeybees are able to detect static
intensity fluctuations as weak as 26 nT against the background
earth-strength magnetic field (average 500 mT) [7]. This has been demonstrated in
experiments where individual honeybees have been trained to
discriminate between the presence and the absence of a small
static magnetic anomaly in the lab. Honeybees can also learn
to distinguish between two 360o panoramic patterns
that are identical except for the compass orientation. In this
case, the difference was a 90o rotation about the
vertical axis [8]. The most powerful cue to direction for the
honeybee comes from the sky, but discrimination between
patterns is possible in the absence of celestial information,
as when the sky is overcast. Under those conditions, bees can
use a magnetic direction to discriminate between patterns.
The bees’ waggle dance on the honeycomb, which tells hive
mates where to find food, can also be misdirected by anomalies
in the earth’s magnetic field or very weak pulsed magnetic
fields at about 250 MHz applied in the correct direction [9].
Bees can even learn to detect very low levels of extremely low
frequency alternating electromagnetic fields [10].
But mobile phones have been around for close to 20 years,
so why now? There has been a recent change in cell phone
technology that coincides with the current crisis. At the
beginning of the present century, 3G (third generation) mobile
phone systems became publicly available, leading to a surge in
popularity of mobile phones, and many more phone towers [11].
Bees are disappearing in North America, Europe and also
Australia, wherever mobile phones are greatly in use. Stay
tuned.
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