It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.
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.
The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast.
clipped from news.independent.co.uk
3 comments:
According to DEFRA, the estimated economic value of crops grown commercially in the UK that benefit from bee pollination is £120 million to £200 million per year. That figure may be dwarfed by the economic value of the mobile phone industry. Sad sitauation!
About one third of global food supplies rely on pollination by bees.
- Rainforest Rescue
[http://www.regenwald.org]
Well, at least my local MP is paying attention. The good people at TheyWorkForYou.com let me know exactly what Joan Ruddock's been fighting for in parliament - at the moment, she's definitely got a bee in her bonnet about this subject... (sorry, I couldn't resist slipping that one in).
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