CELLPHONES:A THREAT TO 'OUR EARTH',DANGEROUS THAN NUKES.
CELLPHONES:TAKING WORLD CLOSER TO EXTINCTION.

They say it's a Cellular era,and it seems an unavoidable truth,when we have a look around.From a businessman to a paperboy who come to deliver you the daily news
early in the morning,even the schoolboy in 8th standard,every part of the society own a cellphone.Your cellphone has become your identity rather more than that.
It has become the Style-Status quotient for the person.But are we aware of the threats?Do we know that these cellphones are taking the World towards it's END,
as early as it can?This is the must read for every cellphone user.

It’s said humans will have only four more years after the bees disappear. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants,
no more animals, no more man. But how close to home is the danger? Scientists in India say the pollinator’s population in
Kerala alone has gone down by 60 per cent. There’s more bad news: the sparrow’s disappearing too.
And many blame the cell phone for it. Are we really talking the bees to extinction?

Not so long ago, many communities in India believed that a honeybee buzzing next to one’s ears heralded good news,
some said it meant a missive was on its way. As time went by, cellular phones made that kind of anxious wait redundant.
Then, one day, when the bees stopped troubling people, no one noticed it.
Unhappy as it may sound, scientists are now veering towards the belief that bees, which pollinate almost 80 per cent of
all fruits and vegetables, have started to disappear. The US, Europe and the UK have been reporting large bee disappearances,
posing a direct threat to the survival of thousands of plants used for food, fibers and medicines — a “potential
health crisis for the planet” and an already fragile ecosystem. Financially, too, this is worrisome. According to a
recent study in the journal Ecological Economics, the worldwide economic value of pollination is estimated at more than $215
billion, or about 9.5 per cent of the total agricultural production.
Frighteningly for India, the crisis may now just be hitting home. Kerala has recorded a similar phenomenon, as have other
parts of the country. But what’s causing this bizarre natural phenomenon could have something to do with the way you talk.
Researchers investigating the trend say radio frequency radiation RFR) emitted by mobile phones and towers is the real
culprit.
Dr Sainuddin Pakattazhy, a zoology expert from S N College, Punalur, said electromagnetic waves emitted by such towers
hamper the navigational skills of worker bees that set out to collect nectar. During an experiment, when a cell phone was
kept near a bee hive, Pakattazhy noticed that worker bees lost their way, leaving the hives with only the queens and eggs.
The result: the colony collapsed within 10 days — a phenomenon many call the ‘Colony Collapse Disorder’ (CCD). German
researchers, too, have recorded behavioural changes in bees near mobile towers.
Though theories on the cause of colony collapse blame attack from viruses, mites, pesticides and fungi for it,
Pakattazhy’s findings have now given an entirely new dimension to the whole thing. Dr George Carlo, who headed a
study by the US government on the hazard from mobile phones, said, “I am convinced the possibility is real.” Scientists in
India now fear that honeybees in areas densely populated with mobile towers could be wiped out in the next few years.
“We have documented a 60 per cent decrease in the population of honeybees and sparrows in Kerala,’’ Pakattazhy said,
darkly. “The implications are alarming. Most of the world’s crops depend on pollination by bees. The demand for crops that
rely on insects for pollination has more than tripled over the last half century. Disappearance of honeybees, therefore,
could cause considerable stress.”
Flower nectar is one of two food sources used by honeybees. The other is pollen, which worker bees gather daily on
foraging flights. As bees hunt for nectar, pollen sticks to the tiny hairs covering their bodies. Some of that pollen rubs
off on the next flower the bee visits and this fertilizes it, resulting in better fruit production. The bees unload the
remaining pollen when they return to the hive, which is stored in the honeycomb, providing protein and other nutrients for
future use.
It’s not just bees, though, that may be in trouble. On a pleasant summer morning back in 2004, R K Kohli, a scientist
at the Centre for Environment and Vocational Studies, Panjab University, was taking a stroll on the sprawling green campus
when a friend threw him a challenge: spot a sparrow, he said. It took Kohli five days to do that. “That’s when I decided
to study the reasons for the bird’s disappearance,” said Kohli. He looked up literature and found studies in some foreign
countries that said electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from cell phone masts could be interfering with the population of
some urban birds. He teamed up with V P Sharma, a zoologist in the university, and some others for a comprehensive study
on the effect of EMR on birds, bees and plants in 2006. The results, some of which were published in the Journal of Total
Environment last month, showed radiation from cell phone towers affected all the forms of lives studied. “In birds, EMR was
found to be distorting the development of embryos,” Kohli said, adding, “Now we have to see how they get affected at the
cellular level.” Researchers at the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Coimbatore, say there are
enough reasons to attribute bird mortality to these radiations. “Cell phones and towers emit microwaves of very low frequency, of 900 or 1,800 MHz
These can result in thin skulls of chicks and thin egg shells,” said Dhanya R, who researches on the impact of modernisation on house sparrows.
Earlier studies in Spain and Belgium, too, have established the ill-effects of EMR on birds.
Chennai-based zoologist Ranjit Daniels said a combination of factors is responsible for the diminishing population of birds
like the house sparrow (Passer domesticus), red-whiskered bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus), brahmini kite (Haliastur indus) and spotted dove (Streptopelia chinensis) in Indian cities.
“Birds are known to be sensitive to magnetic radiation. Migratory birds travel long distances gauging the earth’s magnetic field. Microwaves from cell phone towers
can interfere with birds’ sensors and misguide them while navigating and preying,” Daniels said. In fact, some studies on EMR predict total extinction of sparrows in Valladolid, Spain, by 2020.
“In the 77-sq km city of Chandigarh, there were 199 mobile phone towers at the beginning of the study,
’’ said Kohli. “Now the city has about 280. There are four towers on our university campus alone. It’s like getting
microwaved minus the heat.”


Globally, there has been an alarming drop in the honeybee population. But there isn’t any clear explanation as to why
they are dying in such large numbers
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has affected over 36 states in the US, as well as Europe, South America and China.
Theories on the cause of bee colony collapse include attacks from viruses, mites, pesticides, fungi, and now mobile phone towers
The US has lost 35 per cent of its bee population, and is losing eight per cent more every year
Honeybees are predicted to be extinct in the US by 2035, just from loss of habitat, pesticides and parasites.
After CCD, it’s likely to happen much sooner
In 1960, beekeepers were charging $3 per hive. By 2004, the figure stood at $60. But due to CCD, it is $180 per hive in
the US currently
In 2006, US beekeepers had to import bees for the first time in 80 years


Not that people are any safer. There is increasing evidence of danger to human beings from excessive use of mobile phones.
While studying the impact mobile towers had on 2,000 families living in Kollam, Pakattazhy found that 60 per cent of the
population, mostly children, were suffering from memory loss, headache, vision problems, skin rashes and insomnia.
“Our studies conducted before and after the towers were installed found a sharp decrease in the hormone melatonin,
which is required for good sleep,’’ Pakattazhy said. “We also found brain tissue damage which led to memory loss and a
suppressed immune system.”
International studies, too, point to several other perils of excessive cell phone use. A Finnish study found that
people who used cell phones for more than 10 years were 40 per cent more likely to get a brain tumour. And while
researchers in Sweden claimed that radiation from mobile phones destroyed brain cells, even suggesting that teenagers
could go senile in the prime of their lives, a University of California study said pregnant women using mobiles just
two or three times a day was enough to risk the health of their babies. Specifically, mothers who used mobile phones
were 54 per cent more likely to have children with behavioural problems.
ICMR deputy director general Dr R S Sharma echoes the anxiety. “A 13-country Interphone study found cell phone users
had an increased risk of malignant gliomas, a type of tumour that starts in the brain or spine,’’ he said. His senior and DG
at the same institute, Dr V M Katoch, added: “India does not as yet have very credible studies conducted on harmful effects
of cell phones. And it is vital that India, which is estimated to see 500 million cell phone users by the end of 2010,
knows the exact effects it has on its people’s health. That’s why, by December, India will start its largest study on the
effects of mobile phone-use on humans.’’
Waking up to the threat, countries like Austria, France, Germany and Sweden have already recommended to their citizens
measures to minimize exposure. India is expected to come out with guidelines of its own. But scientists like Pakattazhy are
hoping it comes soon enough. And there’s no knowing if the bees will ever come back to trouble you again.