Steely Dan Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Link Study links bee decline to cell phones By Sasha Herriman, CNN June 30, 2010 9:32 a.m. EDT ...Bee populations dropped 17 percent in the UK last year, according to the British Bee Association, and nearly 30 percent in the United States says the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Parasitic mites called varroa, agricultural pesticides and the effects of climate change have all been implicated in what has been dubbed "colony collapse disorder" (CCD). But researchers in India believe cell phones could also be to blame for some of the losses. In a study at Panjab University in Chandigarh, northern India, researchers fitted cell phones to a hive and powered them up for two fifteen-minute periods each day. After three months, they found the bees stopped producing honey, egg production by the queen bee halved, and the size of the hive dramatically reduced. It's not just the honey that will be lost if populations plummet further. Bees are estimated to pollinate 90 commercial crops worldwide. Their economic value in the UK is estimated to be $290 million per year and around $12 billion in the U.S.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Interesting... I wonder what The Avenger has to say about this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hossage Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 If the radiation hurts bees, what does it do to us? Maybe I should put my tin foil hat back on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dean Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 If the radiation hurts bees, what does it do to us? Maybe I should put my tin foil hat back on. http://zapatopi.net/afdb/ http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hossage Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Directed energy weapons are real, although tin foil hats are not going to be effective in almost all cases. They act as antennae for short radio frequencies used for location or triangulation. I go for the full faraday cage of chain mail. A tin foil hat will actually be worse for this kind of radiation. We very well may be the victims of mass energy attacks. We certainly have the technology for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Avenger Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Interesting... I wonder what The Avenger has to say about this? You rang? As The TBD resident beekeeper I'll give you my $.02 - that study is crap. CCD is a big problem and millions of dollars have been spent on trying to find a root cause by the USDA among others. Nobody has ever linked cell phones to CCD with the exception of some non-scientific experiemnet conducted in Germany a few years back that was widely discredited (they put multiple cell phones into a hive - gee, wonder why that hive didn't do well). The facts are that CCD is most commonly seen in colonies that are under a good deal of environmental and non-environmental stress and almost never seen in colonies that are not under stress. What puts a colony under stress? Being trucked around from crop to crop for polization, singe crop environment, being fed HFCS (high fructose corn syrup - the same stuff they put in junk food), verroa mites infestation, trachael mite infestation, and diseases like foulbrood and dysentary - all things you find with big commercial migratory polination operations. The big migratory guys are getting killed by CCD - 60-85% losses year over year. For guys like me who don't move their hives, provide a variety of local vegitation and have time to adequately treat for mites and disease CCD is almost never seen. So the search right now is to find the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back - what is the factor pushing stressed colonies over the edge? I personally think it has to do with lack of genetic diversity in bee breeding as well as exposure to neonicotinoid pesticides, but I'm not a scientist. I can guarantee that it's not cell phones - that just makes no sense. There is absolutely NO data that correlates exposure to cell phones to CCD - none. Look at the bees that are being impacted - they are on trucks and working the almond crops - nowhere near any exposure to cell phones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 You rang? As The TBD resident beekeeper I'll give you my $.02 - that study is crap. CCD is a big problem and millions of dollars have been spent on trying to find a root cause by the USDA among others. Nobody has ever linked cell phones to CCD with the exception of some non-scientific experiemnet conducted in Germany a few years back that was widely discredited (they put multiple cell phones into a hive - gee, wonder why that hive didn't do well). The facts are that CCD is most commonly seen in colonies that are under a good deal of environmental and non-environmental stress and almost never seen in colonies that are not under stress. What puts a colony under stress? Being trucked around from crop to crop for polization, singe crop environment, being fed HFCS (high fructose corn syrup - the same stuff they put in junk food), verroa mites infestation, trachael mite infestation, and diseases like foulbrood and dysentary - all things you find with big commercial migratory polination operations. The big migratory guys are getting killed by CCD - 60-85% losses year over year. For guys like me who don't move their hives, provide a variety of local vegitation and have time to adequately treat for mites and disease CCD is almost never seen. So the search right now is to find the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back - what is the factor pushing stressed colonies over the edge? I personally think it has to do with lack of genetic diversity in bee breeding as well as exposure to neonicotinoid pesticides, but I'm not a scientist. I can guarantee that it's not cell phones - that just makes no sense. There is absolutely NO data that correlates exposure to cell phones to CCD - none. Look at the bees that are being impacted - they are on trucks and working the almond crops - nowhere near any exposure to cell phones. Holy crap.... great post. I agree, obviously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Holy crap.... great post. I agree, obviously. It is a great post... That is why I summoned The Avenger phone! On the same note that he was putting down... Wait till something really heinous hits say the poultry/turkey industry: "I personally think it has to do with lack of genetic diversity" We may be thankful Asian carp are swimming our way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyst Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Avenger can handle the bee's, I'll work with livestock, and if anyone knows crops and chickens, we could build one amazing TBD Facebook farm and make millions of internet dollars! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SageAgainstTheMachine Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Avenger can handle the bee's, I'll work with livestock, and if anyone knows crops and chickens, we could build one amazing TBD Facebook farm and make millions of internet dollars! I'm pretty good at making moonshine, if that's something you want happening on your farm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBill Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Holy crap.... great post. I agree, obviously. Ditto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBill Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 I'm pretty good at making moonshine, if that's something you want happening on your farm. You'll have to move down south and take up NASCAR viewing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts