People may not be the only ones distracted by cell phones.
Honey bees appear to be thrown off course by the
electromagnetic waves coming from cell phone towers. A study in
Kerala, India, found that when new cell phone towers were
installed, the bee population rapidly declined. The researchers said a
continuing increase in cell phone towers could cause a complete colony
collapse within 10 years. In the San Francisco Chronicle, pest
management specialist Richard Fagerlund mentioned that study as
well as one conducted in Germany, in which bees would not return
to their hives when cell phones were placed near them. Those
researchers believed radiation from the phones was interfering
with the bees’ ability to communicate, and thus, find their way
home.
The other main theory used to explain colony collapse
disorder—the somewhat mysterious disappearance of
bees—is the use of pesticides.