5G harms insects

5G harms insects 

Wireless radiation has caused a dramatic decline in insect and animal life on the island of Samos in Greece and 5G signals have seriously exacerbated the situation, says Diana Kordas.

Diana and her husband, Samos residents and wildlife lovers, have documented their observations of declining populations of land and water dwellers from 2012 to 2022. They observed declines in different species, that could not be explained by other environmental factors, concurrent with each generation of wireless technology on the island.

‘After the introduction of 3G, all the frogs disappeared. After the introduction of 4G/LTE (2016) all the terrapins disappeared from the wetlands, while bird numbers and species began to decline rapidly, especially small birds such as sparrows, chaffinches, linnets, greenfinches, goldfinches and serins. Insect numbers also declined… In addition, after 4G was deliberately aimed at the southern beaches, sea life declined as well. Octopi, sea slugs, sea hares, nudibranches, starfish and a type of sea horse became very scarce or disappeared altogether… The sea bed close to where we live, which does not get agricultural runoff, has lost all its corals, starfish, lobsters, cuttlefish, sea slugs and sea hares as well as most octopi, flounders and urchins. There are far fewer fish; in fact there is very little aquatic life compared to ten years ago.’

After 5G was activated in July 2021, the decline in animal species reached new levels. ‘From late July, overall insect numbers visibly diminished,’ Kordas noticed that there were fewer butterflies and moths, beetles, caterpillars, wasps, grasshoppers, crickets, mantises, cicadas, spiders, hornets, flies and bees.

‘Animals have also been affected by 5G since July,’ Kordas says. She observed changes in behaviour of boar and migratory birds (failing to migrate) and loss of species, including hedgehogs, rodents, stoats, weasels, raptors (eagles, buzzards, owls) and golden jackals.

‘The insect declines we have been seeing on our land since 5G came in are happening everywhere on the island, and in some places they are worse than on our land.’

Kordas’s observations are consistent with a 2017 German study which reported a ‘more than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas’ and eliminated climate change and pesticides as causes.

The 5G frequencies used in Greece include the very high (almost millimetre-wave) frequency of 22.5 GHz. Kordas says, ‘Studies by Thielens et al have shown that 5G will be especially harmful to insects precisely because the size of the millimeter waves fit into their tiny bodies, where they can do the most harm.’

The decline in insect populations has serious implications for humankind. Insects are vital for pollination of crops and form the basis of the food chain on which we all depend. ‘Without insects, there will be no life on earth,’ Kordas says.

What can we do? Kordas advises people to look up from their screens and observe the world around them. ‘If you don’t look you won’t see,’ she says. Further, she recommends we re-evaluate our relationship with technology.

She says, ‘I’m tired of hearing, “Wireless communications are here to stay; we can’t do without them; we can’t go back to the Stone Age.” What we cannot do without—really can’t do without—is nature. A planet with dead seas and dead land will not support us; we will die of oxygen deprivation or starve to death. Who will you call then?’

Diana Kordas, ‘5G Cell Towers Cause Massive Insect Decline on the Greek island of Samos’, 22 February 2022. You can see the paper here.

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