Himanshu Kaushik, TNN | Oct 25, 2011, 03.51AM IST
AHMEDABAD:
An environment and forests' ministry study has blamed
electromagnetic
radiation (EMR) from communication towers for the
declining
numbers of sparrows and
bees. The study titled 'A possible
impact
of communication tower on wildlife birds and bees' said the
radiation
decreases egg production in the bees.
A
10-member expert panel headed by Bombay Natural
History Society
director
Dr Asad Rahmani was asked to study the radiation impact after
the
issue was raised in the Lok Sabha in August last year. "We have
suggested
that EMR should be recognized as a pollutant given its effect
on
wildlife and should be audited regularly," said Wildlife Institute
of
India's
Dr B C Choudhary, who was part of the panel.
The
experts noted a Punjab University's study that said embryos of 50
ggs
of house sparrows were damaged after being exposed to mobile
tower
radiation for five to 30 minutes. Sparrows exposed to the
radiation
suffered from reproductive and co-ordination problems.
They
also became aggressive.
In
the case of honey bees, the group observed that high radiation
resulted
in an unusual phenomenon known as 'colony collapse
disorder'
which is characterized by sudden disappearance of a hive's
inhabitants,
leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers
behind.
The vanished bees were never found. Also, the navigational
skills
of the bees were affected by high-tension lines.
The
panel also took note of a recent study that showed that the worker
bees
stopped coming to the hives after 10 days and egg production in
queen bees dropped
drastically to 100 eggs per day compared to 350
eggs
when a mobile phone with frequency of 900 MHz was kept for
10
minutes in the beehives.
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