Your Cellphone is Killing the Bees

Today, 7.1 billion people use a mobile phone. On a phone, contacts, education, communication, and access to the modern world are all guaranteed.  By 2024 the number of mobile users will reach 7.41 billion. Although there are many beneficial advantages of a mobile phone, there will come the consequence. 

What are Cell Phone Towers?

With the high numbers of mobile usage in the past decade, the total number of cell towers in the U.S(2020) is more than 220,000. These towers have electronic equipment and antennas that obtain and transfer cell phone signals through radiofrequency (RF) waves. This is how we can communicate with someone thousands of miles away. Through mostly RF waves ( a form of energy), cell phones communicate with close cell towers in the electromagnetic spectrum between FM radio waves and microwaves. Big-time companies like Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T rely on these towers to produce business and make profit.

Do they cause cancer?

Like microwaves, visible light, heat, and FM radio waves, they are all forms of non-ionizing radiation. Meaning they do not directly harm the DNA inside cells. By contrast, ionizing types of radiation such as x-rays, UV rays, and gamma rays are thought to be stronger, therefore considered as a cancerous risk. At this time, since cell phone towers moreover mobile phones are relatively new,  there is not much evidence of if they cause harm to human health. Still, more research has to be conducted on human effects. But that isn’t to say it’s not harmful to other species. Like bees.

Bees vs. Phones

Parasitic mites, climate change, diseases, and agricultural pesticides are the common contributions of CCD, the reason why honeybees are in declination. The steepest decline in bee populations was reported in the US and Europe, where not coincidentally, cell phone usage has been greater compared to other parts of the world. Multiple global studies have led to the same conclusion: phone radiation has a significant impact on bees. 

India

Researchers at the Panjab University in Chandigarh, northern India, connected cell phones to a hive and powered them up for two fifteen-minute periods each day. During the three month period, results showed that the size of the colony reduced by more than half, there was no production of honey, and the egg production by the queen reduced significantly.  

As Sainuddereen Pattazhy, researcher and dean in the department of Zoology at SN College, explains: “The navigation skill of the worker bees is dependent on the earth’s magnetic properties. The electromagnetic waves emitted by the mobile phones and relay towers interfere with the earth’s magnetism, resulting in the loss of the navigation capacity of the bee. Then it fails to come back. Also the radiation causes damage to the nervous system of the bee and it becomes unable to fly.”

Switzerland

Daniel Favre of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, who has conducted over 83 experiments with cell phones and bees, has found that there is an overwhelming increase in  “worker piping” when the towers are near the hive. Worker piping specifies a disturbance in the hive, and a warning for bees to leave. This is common during swarming, as they prepare to lift off to their new habitat. Thus, when cell phones [towers] are placed near a hive, it prevents the bees from returning.

United States

A columnist, Barbara Hughes writes about her experience visiting the Benedictine abbey near the mission in San Luis Rey, California:

“One of the monks who has been a beekeeper at the abbey for 40 years explained how, until numerous cell phone towers were constructed on the back of their property, he had been collecting 100 gallons of honey a week. But as the use of cell phones expanded, all of his bees died within a few weeks, until he discovered a small area near the base of a hill where he could not get service. Once he moved his hives to that particular area, the bees once again began to thrive and reproduce.”

Germany

Currently, Germany’s Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) analyzed 190 scientific studies of the radiation effects on bees, wasps, and flies. Out of the 83 studies, 72 concluded that there was a negative impact on the insects. This ranged from not being able to navigate because of the disturbing magnetic fields to the harm of offspring in their habitat. The cellular radiation absorbs more calcium ions, which disrupts the immune system and circadian “rhythms”, as concluded.

Johannes Enssle, head of NABU in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, points out: “The subject is uncomfortable for many of us because it interferes with our daily habits and there are powerful economic interests behind mobile communication technology,”

United Kingdom

Andrew Goldsworthy, a biologist from the UK’s Imperial College, London, has been researching the biological effects of electromagnetic fields. He believes that it is possible cell phone radiation could negatively impact bees. For instance, all animals and insects use cryptochrome to navigate. More specifically, they use it to sense the direction of the earth’s magnetic field. But the cell towers and phone radiation disturb their ability to do so. Therefore when foraging, worker bees will not be able to find their way back to the hive. 

A solution Goldsworthy suggests : “It’s possible to modify the signal coming from the [cell] phones and the base station in such a way that it doesn’t produce the frequencies that disturb the cryptochrome molecules.”

The Problem

Our daily life and routine depends on bees. When a worker bee is MIA, a whole colony, who operates on the maintenance of worker bees, can be in great danger. This dilemma is a huge scare for major food scientists and should be for us too. Cell phone towers are being studied more thoroughly, and there is still a lot we don’t know about them. But it doesn’t take a whole population to make a change. 5G technology is supposed to be faster, better, and more efficient equipped into our daily routine, but does that justify the possible harm of others?

Tip: For any beginner beekeepers, make sure to place your hive away from any cellphone towers, WI-FI routers, and wires to ensure the best safety of the bees.

Want to learn more:

Cellular (Cell) Phones (cancer.org)

Published Research on the Adverse Effect of Wireless Technology and Electromagnetic Radiation on Bees – Environmental Health Trust (ehtrust.org)

5G technology: Is it bad for our health? (medicalnewstoday.com)