Bee Expert Says Cell Phones Are Not Cause of Honey Bee Collapse

© 2010 by Linda Moulton Howe

“The India research was collected in a shoddy manner,
was not developed and there is no reason to believe that cell phones
are significantly and negatively impacting honey bee colonies
or insects any place in the world.”

- Jerry Hayes, Apiary Inspection, Florida Dept. of Agriculture

A total 33.8% of U. S. commercial honey bee colonies
were lost in 2009-2010, the third season in a row with more
than 30% loss. But some individual beekeepers had to
replace 75% to 100% of their colonies. Image © by CBC.

Before the fall of 2006 and the first report of disappearing honey bee colonies,
the U. S. commercial honey bee industry thrived on hiring out bees to pollinate
California almonds, other orchard crops, vegetables and berries. But in January 2010,
many commercial beekeepers who trucked colonies to California for
almond pollination lost nearly 100% of their hives. Image © 2007 by TargetHealth.

European honey bees (Apis mellifera) have been domesticated by humans
for honey and beeswax since the time of Egyptian pyramid constructions. Honey bees
represent only a small fraction of the approximately 20,000 known species of bees,
but only members of the genus Apis are true honey bees. Image © AP.

July 28, 2010  Gainesville, Florida - The May 25, 2010, web issue of Current Science, published a research article by Panjab University students entitled:  “Changes in honeybee behaviour and biology under the influence of cell phone radiations.” [ By Ved Parkash Sharma1 and Neelima R. Kumar, Department of Environment and Vocational Studies and Department of Zoology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. See More Information below.]

The paper's May 2010 abstract summary reads:  “Increase in the usage of electronic gadgets has led to electropollution of the environment. Honeybee behaviour and biology has been affected by electrosmog since these insects have magnetite in their bodies which helps them in navigation. There are reports of sudden disappearance of bee populations from honeybee colonies. The reason is still not clear. We have compared the performance of honeybees in cell phone radiation exposed and unexposed colonies. A significant (p < 0.05) decline in colony strength and in the egg laying rate of the queen was observed. The behaviour of exposed foragers was negatively influenced by the exposure, there was neither honey nor pollen in the colony at the end of the experiment.”

Then TV news and other media such as U. K.'s Telegraph headlined, “Mobile phones responsible for disappearance of honey bees.” But cell phones are not the smoking gun, say American bee experts.

The problem is that U. S. scientists, who have been studying the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) disappearance of honey bees since 2007, have never found hard evidence that microwaves from towers and cell phones are linked to the sudden collapse of honey bees. Apiary experts even looked at microwaves early on in their research. One simple fact is that cell phone towers and mobile cell phones have been around since 1956, when the first fully automatic mobile phone system called Mobile Telephone System A (MTA) was developed by Ericsson and commercially released in Sweden.

Portable cell phone in 1970s. Image © 2006,
Thomas Investigative Publications, Inc.

After that, the first person to have a mobile phone in the United Kingdom was Prince Philip, who had a portable phone installed in the trunk of his Aston Martin in 1957. That allowed Queen Elizabeth and her husband to call each other while he was driving, but nobody else in the U. K. was granted a mobile phone because the system at the time required one entire dedicated radio frequency.

The point is that mobile phones and cell phone towers have spread around the world since the 1950s, but the decline and disappearance of honey bees in the modern phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder was not described or researched until 2007. But given the repeated headlines in worldwide media since May 2010 that mobile phones are responsible for CCD, I asked for feedback from Jerry Hayes, Assistant Chief of the Apiary Inspection Section in Florida's Department of Agriculture.

Interview:

“The India university students actually placed cell phones inside
honey bee colonies. Any time you place something inside the honey bee
colony, it is disruptive. That would be like someone doing an experiment
with you and parking a tractor in your living room.”

Jerry Hayes, Asst. Chief, Bureau of Plant and Apiary Inspection, Apiary Inspection Section, Division of Plant Industry, Florida Dept. of Agriculture, Gainesville, Florida:  “Mobile phones (link to CCD) based on the data collected now from various places, the latest being India, is not complete. The India research was collected in a shoddy manner, was not developed and there is no reason to believe that cell phones are significantly and negatively impacting honey bee colonies or insects any place in the world.

WHY DO YOU THINK THE MEDIA RAN WITH THESE HEADLINES WITHOUT DOING A REALITY CHECK WITH SCIENTISTS WHO SPEND A LOT OF TIME STUDYING HONEY BEES?

OK, I don’t want to sound rude. You tell me! (laughs)  

But you are right. Why would a reporter, other than trying to fill up some electronic space, not make a few phone calls? My biggest problem with the India paper is there are some methodology flaws in it. I think they only used two colonies of honey bees, which is not statistically relevant. You’d like to get up to 30 colonies minimum. More is always better because the more data the better. So, the Indian sample size was really small. Then, the India university students actually placed cell phones inside honey bee colonies. Any time you place something inside the honey bee colony, it is disruptive. That would be like someone doing an experiment with you and parking a tractor in your living room. Probably it would change the lifestyle of you and the honey bees. The study really was not well designed and I really don’t know that it says anything about cell phones and colony deaths.

How long have cell phones been on the market? A lot longer than the last few years [ 1956 compared to Fall 2006 - Winter 2007 of first Colony Collapse Disorder reports. ] The Indian researchers also waited three months. Honey bees have all sorts of predators and diseases that can happen over a 3-month time period. Putting all these things together and then saying (in the research report) that turning on a cell phone a couple of times a day for 15 minutes with two colonies and say that caused the queens to lay less eggs or to cause bees to be gone is a pretty big stretch.

WHEN THIS WAS REPORTED IN THE JOURNAL CURRENT SCIENCE, THE INDIAN STUDENTS THEMSELVES WERE REPORTED SAYING THAT, ‘THERE ARE REPORTS OF SUDDEN DISAPPEARANCES OF BEE POPULATIONS FROM HONEY BEE COLONIES. THE REASON IS STILL NOT CLEAR’

IT’S AS IF IN THEIR OWN PAPER, THERE IS THE CONTRADICTION OF SAYING THAT THEY THINK ELECTROSMOG IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CCD, BUT THEY THEMSELVES SAY THAT THE REASON FOR THE DISAPPEARANCE OF HONEY BEE POPULATIONS IS STILL NOT CLEAR.

Yes. I’m not sure what these guys were doing. I think they were in Punjab University some place in northern India and this might have been just an interesting research thing they put out there and the media picked up on it all over the world and those Indian guys were probably just as surprised as anybody. But when you don't do proper design and the methodology is all messed up, scientists discard those kind of data.

Most Likely CCD Culprit -
Nosema ceranae Fungus?

FROM THE FALL OF 2007 TO NOW IN THE SUMMER OF 2010 WITH ALL OF THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH AND INVESTIGATIONS AND PAPERS ABOUT COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER, WHAT RIGHT NOW IS AT THE TOP OF YOUR LIST OF POTENTIAL CULPRITS?

I think the last few months there was data that came out of the USDA Lab in Beltsville, Maryland, published by Jay D. Evans, Ph.D. [ See More Information below.] There seems to be a correlation between disease from a microsporidia (odd type of fungus) that is Nosema ceranae. This fungus-like microorganism destroys the gut lining of honey bee digestive tracts. So you have Nosema ceranae plus viruses that seem to be causing colony population drops and sometimes even deaths of whole colonies.”

      
Left: Single-cell protozoan, similar to odd Nosema ceranae now categorized as a fungi,
was for the first time in 2004 linked to honey bee die-offs in Spain, France, other European countries
and the United States. Right: Honey bees atop hive board. Image © 2007 by Matt Cardy/Getty.

[ Editor’s Note:  Wikipedia – Bees can die within 8 days after exposure to N. ceranae, which is faster than bees exposed to N. apis. The foraging bee force seems to be affected the most. They leave the colony and are too weak to return, thus dying in the field. This leaves behind a small cluster and a weak colony, very similar to the symptoms of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Nosema ceranae was not discovered until 1996, and was then in 2004 identified as a disease of Apis mellifera, European honey bees, in Spain where 90% of some 3,000 honey bee samples had positive results for N. ceranae. By 2005 in Spain, 97% of 800 samples were positive for N. ceranae. During 2006, both France and Germany detected the disease and recognized the genetic sequence of Nosema ceranae in their respective territories. After the 2007 alarm of Colony Collapse Disorder and the disappearance of whole honey bee colonies in the United States, a U. S. Dept. of Agriculture bee scientist stated,‘'while the parasite Nosema ceranae might be a factor in CCD, it cannot be the sole cause. The fungus has been seen before, sometimes in colonies that were healthy’

The Nosema ceranae microsporidia constitute a phylum of spore-forming unicellular parasites. They were once thought to be protists, but are now known to be fungi whose dormant stage of nosema is a long-lived spore that is resistant to temperature extremes and dehydration. Microsporidia are restricted to animal hosts, and all major groups of animals host microsporidia. Most infect insects, but they are also responsible for common diseases of crustaceans and fish. Several species, most of which are opportunistic, also infect humans. All organs and tissues are invaded.

Some species are lethal, and a few are used in biological control of insect pests. Parasitic castration, gigantism, change of host sex are effects of microsporidian parasitism. In the most advanced cases of parasitism, the microsporidium rules the host cell completely and controls its metabolism and reproduction. Replication takes place within the host's cells, which are infected by means of unicellular spores. These vary from 1-40 μm (micrometer), making them some of the smallest eukaryotes with the smallest eukaryotic genomes. A strand of human hair is about 100 μm wide. Red blood cells are approx. 8 μm in diameter. The genome of Nosema ceranae was finally sequenced by scientists in 2009. This should help scientists establish how this odd fungi became dominant and help create diagnostic tests and treatments. ]

 

“So, I think we’re narrowing our diagnosis focus more on viruses such as Israeli Acute Paralysis virus accompanied by other stressors such as Nosema ceranae.  But what we could possibly do for viruses in honey bees is the same question as what can we do for viruses in you and me? That’s not a whole lot! What do we do about it? I guess that is the larger question.

Do Nicotine-Based Pesticides
Weaken Honey Bees?

COULD THE HONEY BEE POPULATION BE MORE VULNERABLE TO NOSEMA, FOR EXAMPLE, BECAUSE OF SOMETHING IN THE ENVIRONMENT LIKE THE NICOTINE-BASED PESTICIDES?

Oh, yeah, absolutely! Nosema ceranae is a fungi that came from another honey bee, Apis ceranae in Asia. Somehow it was introduced into our population of honey bees and because our European-based honey bees had not evolved with this particular Nosema, it is more stressful and has more negative effects on our American honey bees. Then other stressors such as pesticide toxins could be the tipping point.

FRANCE BANNED THE NICOTINE-BASED PESTICIDES BECAUSE THE FRENCH APIARISTS WERE CONVINCED IT IS THOSE PESTICIDES THAT WERE CAUSING COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER IN FRANCE. DO YOU THINK THAT THE FRENCH DATA HOLDS UP IN ANY WAY?

The French have some excellent data. There’s also some data that I think was sponsored by Bayer (large pesticide maker in Europe) that shows exactly the opposite. What data do you believe since there are divergent paths here? So, that’s a conundrum.

Honey Bee Help Could Come
from RNA Interference (RNAi)

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT COULD COMBAT THE FUNGUS, NOSEMA CERANAE, TO HELP INCREASE THE HONEY BEE POPULATION?

Well, interestingly enough, we’ve been working on that here. My office and Dr. Jamie Ellis, Ph.D., Asst. Professor of Entomology at the Univ. of Florida Honey Bee Research and Extension Lab - we are all working with a private company called Biologics. There is a technique using a genetic component called RNAi – RNA Interference.”

[ Editor’s Note:  Wikipedia – RNA interference (RNAi) is a system within living cells that helps to control which genes are active and how active they are. Two types of small RNA molecules – microRNA (miRNA) and small interfering RNA, (siRNA) – are central to RNA interference. RNAs are the direct products of genes, and these small RNAs can bind to specific other RNAs and either increase or decrease their activity, for example, by preventing a messenger RNA from producing a protein. RNA interference has an important role in defending cells against parasitic genes – viruses and transposons – but also in directing development as well as gene expression in general.

The selective and robust effect of RNAi on gene expression makes it a valuable research tool, both in cell culture and in living organisms because synthetic dsRNA introduced into cells can induce suppression of specific genes of interest. RNAi may also be used for large-scale screens that systematically shut down each gene in the cell, which can help identify the components necessary for a particular cellular process or an event such as cell division. ]

“If you have certain genomes sequenced of an organism, you can find those sequences that say, will be responsible for some type of protein synthesis or something that sustains that organism’s life. You can introduce this specially prepared RNAi, which will interfere with that protein synthesis and actually kill or disable an organism.

We’ll have a paper coming out in a few months that shows using RNAi, we can control the Israeli Acute Paralysis virus and perhaps some other viruses, specifically targeted without any collateral damage that would otherwise be expected when you use chemotherapy.

SO THAT MIGHT BE A DENT ON THE VIRUS SIDE FOR THE BEES. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE STRANGE NOSEMA FUNGI?

Nosema ceranae has been around here for about ten years and it has taken about that long to build up in population and start displacing the Nosema apis, which was the common species found. Now beekeepers are having to adjust to this new disease and new management protocols. In a perfect world with enough money and time, we could control Nosema ceranae and Nosema apis. We could control just about anything using RNAi kind of technology.

WHERE DID THE NOSEMA CERANAE ODD FUNGI COME FROM 10 YEARS AGO?

We don’t know. In a global economy, we just don’t know. Florida is a great place with tropical and semi-tropical, but on every palette of something coming in from China going to Walmart, there is always a bug or fungus or something on it. It’s very, very difficult keeping things out when they can be on a plane and be at your airport in eight hours.

WITH THAT AS CONTEXT, COULD YOU ADDRESS ANOTHER STATISTIC I HAVE READ RECENTLY: ‘ACCORDING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM, ENGLAND’S HONEY BEES ARE VANISHING FASTER THERE THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN EUROPE WITH MORE THAN HALF OF THE HIVES DYING OUT OVER THE PAST TWENTY YEARS.’

Yes, I was able to spend time this month with Dr. Max Watkins, who is with a company called Vita Europe that supplies materials to combat honey bee pests and predators in Europe. Certainly the British beekeepers and population are highly attuned to the importance of honey bees and the continual heavy U. K. losses.

IS THE NOSEMA FUNGUS IN ENGLAND MORE PREVALENT THAN IN THE UNITED STATES?

The British have different weather patterns than we do and sometimes the bees are cloistered in a hive for a long time. If bees can’t get out of their hive to go to the bathroom and end up keeping feces in their intestines – that sometimes allows for a build up of the various Nosemas in their gut. So a lot of this is tied to weather and other conditions that are difficult for beekeepers to control.

IN YOUR DISCUSSION WITH THE BRITISH EXECUTIVE, DID HE INDICATE THEY’VE DONE ANY RESEARCH TO FIND IF NOSEMA CAME TO ENGLAND ABOUT THE SAME TIME TEN YEARS AGO?

There are a lot of transports of bees back and forth. Many countries allow honey bee queens, which are the fertile females of colonies, to be shipped back and forth and among colonies. Britain imports a lot of queens from Cyprus. We get queens from Australia and Canada at times. Canada gets queens from Argentina and Chile. So with this global trade in honey bees, certainly there is a great possibility that they can pick up pest critters and diseases that might not be easily seen and transported elsewhere in the world.

2010 Colony Collapse Disorder
in United States

COULD YOU GIVE AN OVERVIEW OF WHERE WE ARE IN JULY 2010 WITH COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER IN THE UNITED STATES?

We had an almost 34% calculated loss over winter of this past year, which with the other figures for the past three or four years, is still at least 30% average CCD loss. We now have a better idea of what might be the components of CCD, focusing perhaps more on Nosema ceranae and a variety of viruses. But we still don’t have any firm recommendations or control measures for the viruses and fungi that can help beekeepers.

The new business model for commercial beekeepers – the guys that put honey bees on semi-trucks and haul them all over the United States - is that beekeepers now have to keep replacing the 30% loss of bees over winters. Some of these commercial beekeepers, though, say over a 12-month period, they are replacing 85% to 100% of their bees because their honey bees die continuously through the year and the only thing that saves the commercial beekeepers is the biology of the honey bee. You can take one honey bee colony and split it and make two colonies out of it. That’s what beekeepers are having to do now. It’s not a great business model, but that’s what they are having to do to survive.

AREN'T THE BEEKEEPERS SPLITTING COLONIES OF BEES THAT ARE SICK AT SOME LEVEL?

Could be sick as well, but they are the ones that are still surviving. So beekeepers split them, artificially feed them and there is definitely a delay in the growth of the colony to get it up to the population numbers that would make it an effective pollinator or honey collector. So, it’s almost becoming an economy of scale anymore. The larger beekeepers have more critical mass in order to do these things rather than the small beekeeper that might have only a few hundred colonies.

IS IT FAIR TO SAY THAT COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER HAS BECOME A KIND OF PERMANENT CONDITION THAT THE BEEKEEPING INDUSTRY HAS TO ACCEPT AND DEAL WITH?

Yes, I think you are right. The question in my mind is:  What might be an additional tipping point? Say a commercial beekeeper has 1,000 colonies. Say that beekeeper loses 500 colonies. They can take the remaining 500, split them and get back up to your 1,000 level. But what happens if you have 1,000 colonies and 700 colonies die and you only have 300 left? That’s why we really need to come up with some better recommendations for maintaining honey bee colony health.

WHAT IS YOUR PROJECTION FOR WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO HONEY BEES IN THE UNITED STATES, ENGLAND AND ELSEWHERE OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS?

I think the the honey bees and beekeepers are going to continue to struggle.”

Adding to the virus and fungi load in honey bees
are Varroa mites (above) about 1 millimeter long that
suck blood from both adult honey bees and their
developing brood. Image courtesy Univ. of Kentucky.

More Information:

See original India paper:  Current Science, May 25, 2010: 
“Changes in honeybee behaviour and biology under the influence of cellphone radiations” :  http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/25may2010/1376.pdf

See “Honey bee disease overview”  by Jay D. Evans, Ph.D., Journal of Invertebrate Pathology:
http://ddr.nal.usda.gov/bitstream/10113/38154/1/IND44321948.pdf

For further information about honey bee Colony Collapse Disorder, please see reports below from the Earthfiles Archive:

• 03/25/2010 — GMO Seed Prices Skyrocket and Justice Department Investigates Monsanto for Antitrust Violation
• 03/25/2010 — Bat Die-offs Spread to 11 States and Scientists Call It “Crisis”
• 02/18/2010 — U. S. Honey Bee Deaths Increase Again
• 11/20/2009 — Red List of Earth Life Facing Extinction Keeps Growing
• 06/26/2009 — Mysterious Northeast Bat Deaths Now in 9 States and Headed Toward Kentucky
• 03/30/2009 — European Honey Bee Decline Continues While Aggressive Africanized Honey Bees Attack in Southern U. S.
• 02/26/2009 — Unprecedented Northeast Bat Die-off Spreading Rapidly
• 09/26/2008 — NRDC Sues EPA for Honey Bee Lab Data and EPA Approves Another Bee-Killing Pesticide
• 08/31/2008 — Honey Bees Not Healthy in U. S. or U. K.
• 08/15/2008 — Amphibian Warning Bell of Mass Extinctions
• 04/10/2008 — Honey Bee Collapse Now Worse on West Coast
• 02/29/2008 — Mysterious Bat Deaths in New York, Vermont and Massachusetts
• 01/18/2008 — Amphibians Dying Out At Alarming Rate
• 10/13/2007 — Now Bumblebees Are Disappearing, Too.
• 09/26/2007 — North American Honey Bees Still Weak
• 09/07/2007 — Honey Bee DNA Study Finds Australian Virus in Colony Collapse Disorder
• 08/31/2008 — Honey Bees Not Healthy in U. S. or U. K.
• 06/28/2007 — Hackenberg Apiary, Pennsylvania - 75-80% Honey Bee Loss in 2007. What Happens If Colony Collapse Disorder Returns?
• 05/04/2007 — Environmental Emergency Updates: Part 1 - Spreading Honey Bee Disappearances - Nosema ceranae Not the Answer?
• 04/06/2007 — Collapse of Honey Bees in U. S., Canada and 9 European Countries
• 03/17/2007 — Honey Bee Disappearances Continue: Could Pesticides Play A Role?
• 02/23/2007 — Part 1: Earth Life Threats - Alarming Disappearance of Honey Bees

Websites:

Pesticides In Pollens, PLOS One:   “High Levels of Miticides and Agrochemicals in North American Apiaries: Implications for Honey Bee Health”:  http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0009754

Current Science, May 25, 2010:  “Changes in honeybee behaviour and biology under the influence of cellphone radiations” :  http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/25may2010/1376.pdf

“Honey bee disease overview”  by Jay D. Evans, Ph.D., Journal of Invertebrate Pathology:
http://ddr.nal.usda.gov/bitstream/10113/38154/1/IND44321948.pdf

January 7, 2010, Congressional Research Service, "Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder":
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33938.pdf

Colony Collapse Disorder:  http://maarec.psu.edu/pressReleases/FallDwindleUpdate0107.pdf

http://maarec.psu.edu/ColonyCollapseDisorder.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder

http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572

CCD, Bees and Pollination, Ohio State University:  http://oardc.osu.edu/agnic/bee/ccd.htm

Univ. of Calif. Agriculture and Natural Resources:  http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=2170

Apiary Inspectors of America:  http://www.apiaryinspectors.org/

Natural Resources Defense Council:  http://www.nrdc.org/thisgreenlife/0809.asp

Bee Alert Technology, Inc.:  http://beealert.blackfoot.net/~beealert/index.php