Sunday - April 15, 2007

Can you .. BZZZ .. Hear Me Now?

It is now official ... we are destroying our planet and killing off species right and left. With cell phones. No, really. Scientific authorities have already determined that cell phones cause cancer, brain tumors, early senility, reduced sperm count (YIKES!) and sore thumbs ... not to mention countless automobile accidents as idiots drive along at 70 mph while arguing with their spouse on their cell phones.

Now, the final “evidence” is in. Because of cell phones, we’re all going to starve to death. Yep, Verizon and Sprint are killing off bees ... and without bees, no crops get pollinated. Cell phones are probably responsible for whales and dolphins beaching themselves as well. Who knows?

And who’s to say that cell phones aren’t causing half the people around us to go stark, raving mad and blurt out obvious insanities like “WTC 7”, “Bush lied”, “Vote for Hillary”, “CIA spy Valerie Plame”, “I will go to Syria”, “Kill all the Jews”, and “Insh’Allah “. Have any of you read Stephen King’s “Cell”? You better.

First the whales, then the bees and finally ... us! We’re all going to die! Put down that cell phone NOW! BZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz ....

Are Mobile Phones Wiping Out Our bees?
Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious ‘colony collapse’ of bees
_{(INDEPENDENT-UK) - 15 April 2007}

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.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive’s inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.

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”.

Evidence of dangers to people from mobile phones is increasing. But proof is still lacking, largely because many of the biggest perils, such as cancer, take decades to show up. Most research on cancer has so far proved inconclusive. But an official Finnish study found that people who used the phones for more than 10 years were 40 per cent more likely to get a brain tumour on the same side as they held the handset.

Equally alarming, blue-chip Swedish research revealed that radiation from mobile phones killed off brain cells, suggesting that today’s teenagers could go senile in the prime of their lives. Studies in India and the US have raised the possibility that men who use mobile phones heavily have reduced sperm counts. And, more prosaically, doctors have identified the condition of “text thumb”, a form of RSI from constant texting.

Posted by The Skipper     on 04/15/2007 at 05:16 AM   
Filed Under: • Science-Technology •  
• Comments (8) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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