Sweet nothings murmured into a mobile phone spell doom for honeybees, says a study. The booming communication industry is not helping one sector - apiculture - at least. Honey and bee wax are not the only things at stake, though. One-third of our crops need bees to pollinate.
“There is a 60% plunge in Kerala’s commercial bee population. Bees are susceptible to diseases and attacks by ants, wasps and wax moths, but vigilant keepers can check these,” Sainudeen Pattazhy, reader in zoology, SN College, Punalur, said. His study warns that bees would be wiped out in a decade if mobile phone towers continue to proliferate at the current rate.
Pattazhy’s experiments show that workers, who constitute around 90% of bees in a hive, abandon it when a mobile device is placed near it. “I placed a mobile device 10 metres off a hive for 5-10 days, after which worker bees never returned. The massive radiation from mobile phones and towers is frying navigational skills of bees,” he said.
Thriving hives were suddenly left with only the queen, drones and larvae. The environmentalist believes atmospheric electromagnetic radiation is responsible for this colony collapse disorder, characterised by mass disappearance of workers who buzz about collecting honey and pollinating flowers.
In the US west coast, this apian disorder is such an ecological disaster that colonies of bees are hired to pollinate almond plantations. Apiarists’ blame theories vary from viruses and bacteria to pesticides and radiation.
“Bees and other insects have evolved complex immunity systems over millions of years. Now, why would they suddenly die out due to diseases and parasites? Of course, we are introducing a new factor to their environment, which is disrupting their immune system,” Pattazhy said.
“Insects and small animals would naturally be the first to be affected by an increase in ambient radiation. Behavioural patterns of bees alter when they are in close proximity to mobile phone towers. The vanished bees were never found, thought to have died,” he said.
A radiation of 900 MHz is highly bioactive, causing significant alternation in living organisms. There are close to 1.25 apiarists in Kerala. A single hive can yield up to 5 kg of honey. Pattazhy advises beekeepers to shield their hives with aluminium, which blocks radiation to an extent.
