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.......


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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!


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The world is changing in some pretty strange ways.