How Cellphones Are Killing Off Honeybees

Resonance – Beings of Frequency

James Russell 2012

Film Review

Part II

Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is a phenomenon in which previously healthy worker bees simply vanish from their hive. First recognized in 2006, it represents a true agricultural emergency, as all food production depends, either directly or indirectly, on insect pollinators. Most environmentalists blame excessive pesticide use in industrial agriculture. However the film presents fascinating research implicating interference by microwave radiation (from cellphone towers) with the special magnetite-containing cells that allow bees to navigate using the earth’s magnetic fields.

Shore birds and songbirds also use the magnetic poles to navigate during long distance migration. A growing body of research suggests excessive microwave smog is responsible for declining bird populations.

A Public Health Problem of Mammoth Proportions

As Resonance – Beings of Frequency points out, in 2012 there were four billion mobile phone users and five million cell phone masts globally. Because this technology is in wide use on all seven continents, there is really nowhere people can go to escape it. In Sweden, patients diagnosed with electrosensitivy syndrome can get government support in insulating their homes against EMR (with tinfoil no less). As yet they are the only country in the world to recognize the condition and subsidize its management.

The filmmakers acknowledge that the sheer magnitude of the problem, given numerous other sources of EMR pollution (such as high tension power lines), means there is no easy or immediate way to reduce or eliminate this major environmental carcinogen. Among other potential remedies, they make a strong case for establishing a truly independent international body to monitor microwave-related health risks, unlike the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection.

At present the ICNIRP is totally dominated and controlled by the telecommunications industry. As the filmmakers point out, a truly independent body would issue safe Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) levels appropriate for children, who generally begin using cell phones at age eight.

ICNIRP was forced to adopt maximum SAR levels after the World Health Organization came out with research linking cell phones and brain tumors. Skull thickness is very important in establishing a safe SAR, as the skull protects the brain from microwaves produced by cell phones. Although children have much thinner skulls, for some bizarre reason has calculated SAR based on the average skull thickness of US military recruits.

The scientists in the film also urge telecommunication companies to be more forthcoming with their own research linking microwave exposure to cancer and other health problems. Only by making the information publicly available can individuals to make informed choices about limiting their exposure.

photo credit: {Guerrilla Futures | Jason Tester} via photopin cc