Colony Collapse Disorder - Possible Causes - Electromagnetic Radiation

Electromagnetic Radiation

Despite considerable discussion on the Internet and in the lay media, there have been few studies published in peer reviewed scientific literature on effects of electromagnetic field exposure on honey bees. One of the first peer-reviewed studies was published in 1981 by Gary and Westerdahl. The investigators found "no evidence that airborne invertebrates would be significantly affected during transient passage through microwaves associated with solar power satellite ground-based microwave receiving stations". No mechanism has been established by which weak radiofrequency energy can affect the behavior of insects, apart from heating effects. However, it is well-established that honey bees can detect weak static or low-frequency magnetic fields, which they use as one of several cues in navigation.

In 2004, an exploratory study was conducted on the non-thermal effects of electromagnetic exposure and learning. The investigators did not find any change in behavior due to RF exposure from the DECT base station operating at 1880–1900 MHz.

In 2006, investigators at the University of Landau did a pilot study on the non-thermal effects of radio frequency ("RF") on honey bees (Apis mellifera carnica) and suggested that when bee hives have DECT cordless phone base stations embedded in them, the close-range electromagnetic field ("EMF") may reduce the ability of bees to return to their hive; they also noticed a slight reduction in honeycomb weight in treated colonies. In the course of their study, one half of their colonies broke down, including some of their controls which did not have DECT base stations embedded in them. In April 2007, news of this study appeared in various media outlets, beginning with an article in The Independent, which stated that the subject of the study included mobile phones and had related them to CCD. Though Cellular phones were implicated by other media reports at the time, they were not covered in the study. Researchers involved have since stated that their research did not include findings on cell phones, or their relationship to CCD, and indicated that the Independent article had misinterpreted their results and created "a horror story".

In April 2011, a study conducted by a former investigator of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne appeared, which stated that active mobile phones placed directly inside a beehive can induce the worker piping signal (in natural conditions, worker piping either announces the swarming process of the bee colony or is a signal of a disturbed bee colony); the author mentioned that "phones are not present in the close vicinity of honeybees in real life" and did not demonstrate what negative effect, if any, worker piping might have within a colony, nor was any link to CCD demonstrated.

In October 2011, a review study was published by the Indian government's Ministry of Environment and Forests that looked at 919 peer-reviewed scientific studies investigating impacts of EMF on birds, bees, humans, animals/wildlife, and plants. Only 7 of the 919 studies involved honey bees, and 6 of these claimed negative effects from exposure to EMF radiation, but none specifically demonstrated any link to CCD. The review noted that according to one study, when active mobile phones were kept inside beehives, worker bees stopped coming to the hives after ten days. The same study also found drastic decrease in the egg production of queen bees in these colonies and goes on to claim that "electromagnetic radiation exposure provides a better explanation for Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) than other theories". In view of evidence from this and several other studies, the review authors concluded: "existing literature shows that the EMRs are interfering with the biological systems in more ways than one" and recommended recognising EMF as a pollutant. However, they also noted that "these studies are not representative of the real life situations or natural levels of EMF exposure. More studies need to be taken up to scientifically establish the link, if any, between the observed abnormalities and disorders in bee hives such as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)".