I’ve been curious about the bee news for a while, but today’s Independent has the first story that suggests a possible cause for the sudden death of bee colonies across America:
The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. 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.
CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London’s biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned.
Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-west England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted: “There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK.”
The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world’s crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, “man would have only four years of life left”.
Nice Einstein quote, but apparently he actually said something more like “No bees, no food for mankind. The bee is the basis of life on this earth.”
Doesn’t that sound more like something he would say?
Another quote I found (related to an insecticide ban due to sudden death of bees) suggests Einstein said “if bees were to disappear, man would only have a few years to live.” That’s even closer to the Independent but the important thing is that the great relativist is unlikely to have suggested a specific timeline like four years. Surely it depends.
German research has long shown that bees’ behaviour changes near power lines.
Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a “hint” to a possible cause.
Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: “I am convinced the possibility is real.”
I think we are seriously underestimating the environmental impact of radical increases in power and wireless radiation. The question will be how quickly people can move past a state of denial, or a state of shock and anger, in order to reach a period of scientific inquiry and then enlightenment. I suspect some people will focus entirely on what Einstein really said and demand detailed proof and evidence of his exact words, but miss the point of the news and fail to seek any proof and evidence of the exact cause of bee death. Kudos to Landau University for bringing the discussion forward, and to the Independent for covering it, but I am now curious whether companies in the US will move to support the research and find a happy solution or will they take the tobacco/utility approach…