Honey, We're Killing The Bees

[Rocco Augusto]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece' target='_blank'>http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Strange though it may seem, mobile phones could be responsible for a massive food shortage with harvests failing. According to scientists, mobile phone radiation is disrupting bee navigation systems. The bees then fail to pollinate crops and lose their way back to the hive - a bit like me after a few too many beers. This has already happened in the USA with a shocking 60-70% of bees missing across half of all American states. Now it's spreading across Europe too, with the UK being recently affected by "CCD" (Colony Collapse Disorder)."</i><br /><br />I wish 60-70% of the bees disappeared across the United States! I don't mean too sound cruel, I just happen to be <i>very</i> allergic to bees. I usually spend my summers jumping around like a mad ninja on to much caffeine trying to avoid the little buggers. Now that I know mobile phone radiation disrupts their navigation systems, I can use this as an excuse to try and convince my fiancee to let me buy a few more Windows Mobile Standard handsets! ;)

[AdamaDBrown]

I hate to break it to you, but as far as I've heard this only affects honeybees, not wild bees. :lol:

Anyway, some scientists seem pretty convinced that it's varroa mites and the viruses they carry that are causing the problem. For those who haven't researched the subject, those are the same mites that basically knocked out the remaining wild honeybee population in North America.

That's not to say all the wild theories about mobile phones, sunspots, and genetically modified crops aren't entertaining, in a SciFi Channel kind of way. :lol:

[Kris Kumar]

What about mosquitoes? :?

:lol:

[Rocco Augusto]

I hate to break it to you, but as far as I've heard this only affects honeybees, not wild bees. :lol:

and to think, i almost threw out my EpiPen ;) :lol:

[Damion Chaplin]

I hate to break it to you, but as far as I've heard this only affects honeybees, not wild bees.

Yes... But honeybees are frequently used for 'forced' pollinization. For example here in California, farmers release entire truckloads of honeybees to pollinate our almond crops. Without them the almond harvest would be a lot less than it is and almond prices would skyrocket. And that's just almonds, one of dozens of crops grown in central California for the rest of the world...

[Mark Kenepp]

Yes... But honeybees are frequently used for 'forced' pollination. For example here in California, farmers release entire truckloads of honeybees to pollinate our almond crops. Without them the almond harvest would be a lot less than it is and almond prices would skyrocket. And that's just almonds, one of dozens of crops grown in central California for the rest of the world...

My Uncle was a bee keeper. Though he did bottle and sell the honey, just because it was there, he made the bulk of his money by renting out his bees to produce farms, mostly orange groves in Florida. It was worth it for him to drive from central Pennsylvania to Florida every year.

Honey bees are one of the biggest pollinators around. Much of the produce we eat requires pollinators to bear fruit. There are types of produce that are almost entirely dependent on honey bees. Also, I would suspect that large scale farms, like California's almond farms, would not be sustainable with only "wild" pollinators. The concentration of plants needs domestic honey bees if they are ever going to produce any sustainable volumes.

If the honey bee population is reduced, you will notice in your local supermarket prices.

I would hate to think that my use of a cell phone would be causing the problem. I always figured it was just global warming that was causing the decline in the bee population.

[Kris Kumar]

.... I always figured it was just global warming that was causing the decline in the bee population.

Wait, maybe the increasing cell phone usage is causing global warming. The cell towers, the cell phones, all that waves. :worried:

:lol:

All I know is that it could be possible (not the global warming but driving the bees away). Everytime I put my Dash on the conference table at work, the conference phone starts buzzing whenever my phone is receiving an email. Same thing with my TV. These handsets are producing a lot of un-necessary noise, lots of un-necessary waves...

[ctmagnus]

It's the buzzing that's driving the bees away! I guess they don't like the competition. ;)