Bees, headed out. Can you hear me now?

I have posted about bees before, but this is extra grim. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has spread through Europe and is now affecting England.

"...[CCD] has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast.

CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned."

A new theory for the losses is that "radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems," but who knows. "No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks."

LINK to Independent article, 15 April 2007

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