The Bees are disappearing

[guids]

Here is an article I found, what is the deal? What do you guys think? I cant believe that we have lost 60 to 70% of our commercial bee population.

http://news.independent.co.uk/enviro...cle2449968.ece

[JaredL]

[ QUOTE ]


They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.

The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm no expert on this but based on having been to Europe 7 years ago, I would think that this would have been a problem over there before becoming a problem here if it was really mobile phones. I suspect that their use is much more widespread in other countries and has been for several years. That is purely anecdotal. When I was in Spain in 2000 it seemed like everyone had one and at that time they were still something of a luxury item here.

[guids]

Ive been reading some more, and there is a lot of other theories floating around, genetically modified organisms being the biggest. My main point is that it seems that losing our bees is a pretty big freakin deal, and what will happen in the future? or is this pretty far out there?


btw, I had a cell phone at 16, Im 24 now, I think when I got mine, pretty much everyone had one already here in the US.

[fnord_too]

Link is screwy (or my tired brain is misfiring) but I am guessing this is the mite thing I read about a couple of years ago? There were some Chinese, I think, bees that had a grooming technique which kept them pretty free of the parasites. The real danger as I recall is that bees are responsible for a startling percentage of pollination, so losing bee population does not just mean honey prices go up, but has serious ecosystem ramifications.

Edit - I think the link is probably not screwy. I didn't realize this was about cell phone possibly interfering. The theory I had read about, and I thought at the time it was accepted, was mites that infested the bees lungs and killed them.

[guids]

This article was released today, the link works for me? but yes, the gist of it is that a lot of our crops, ecosystem, etc rely on bees to pollinate. I think it quoted albert einstien as saying "if the bees are all gone "man would have only four years of life left".

[jesusarenque]

[ QUOTE ]
This article was released today, the link works for me?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I think the link does work for you. You did comment on it, after all.

[guids]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This article was released today, the link works for me?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I think the link does work for you. You did comment on it, after all.

[/ QUOTE ]

The link that was posted in the OP might have been messed up when I pasted it, but it wasnt, and works for me. Get hit by a bus.

[nineinchal]

Post deleted by daryn

[whiskeytown]

I posted about this two weeks ago in SMP -

the general response was as political as they come, with folks weighing in that it's just a GM bashing thread and humanity will survive, etc, etc.

in short, the SMP forum put it's hands over it's ears and went LA LA LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU

I look forward to a more intelligent discussion over here [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] -

GM was the first thing I heard though I too have now heard about the potential of cell phone towers to cause issues.

It has been years since I've seen a legitimate honeybee in the wild - we had them in the walls of our house as a kid - but now all I see are wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets.

rb

[unfrgvn]

Don't look now, but frogs and toads are disappearing as well.

Disappearing Frogs