Bee assault and the Stockholm Declaration
Bee assault and the Stockholm Declaration
On 26 June, the NSW government ordered the destruction of beehives in Newcastle after the varroa bee parasite was found at the Newcastle Port. Hundreds of hives have so far been destroyed.
This is another blow for bees, whose numbers are declining worldwide and who are already under assault from chemical and electromagnetic pollution. Further, mass planting of single plant species is making bees more susceptible to attack by parasites.
Writing in the May issue of Bee Culture, Associate Professor Olle Johansson says it’s time for humanity to step up and take action to protect bees – and other wildlife – and is calling for people to commit to ‘The Stockholm Declaration about “Life EMC” ‘.
Johansson says that radiation standards exist to protect electronic equipment from electromagnetic exposures that would interfere with their operation, and this is called ‘Technical EMC’ (ElectroMagnetic Compatibility). Extending the principle, he says that living organisms should likewise be protected. He believes there is a ‘need to establish stringent, law-abiding, hygienic absolute safety exposure standards for all life on the planet: “Life EMC”.’
Johansson believes that such standards should ‘not only protect life on this planet from serious damage and death but also from any form of disturbance, including physiological, genetic, behavioural, functional, and/or anatomic.’
Humans don’t have God-given rights to destroy life, he says.
Johansson points out that international standards allow 3G wireless technologies to emit levels of radiofrequency radiation that are 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 times greater than background levels of radiation. In addition, we are exposed to radiation from other generations of wireless technologies.
This radiation has been convincingly shown to harm humans and there is increasing evidence that it has harmful effects on bees and other species of wildlife, even at ‘vanishingly low intensities. He refers to research showing that it caused harmful effects on:
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migration
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location of food
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mating and reproduction
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building dens/nests
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defending territory
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longevity and survival
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and health.
Johansson says, ‘to me as a scientist it is becoming more obvious that we, the humans, actually often don’t have a clue any longer about what we are doing … money, profit and greed rule, but not common sense, and not the Precautionary Principle of “Life EMC”.’
However, we can make a difference. ‘If mankind gets real and makes “Life EMC” a genuine reality, then mankind has proven itself worthy of living ‘shoulder-to-shoulder’ with all other species – on this beautiful planet we call home.’
‘The Stockholm Declaration about “Life EMC’ by Olle Johansson, Bee Culture, May 2022;
What can you do?
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Reduce your use of radiating devices. Use radiation-free equipment instead.
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Plant bee-friendly plants everywhere you can. Don’t forget nature strips!
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Talk to your local council about requiring bee-friendly plants in their planning regulations.
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See our recent blog posts on ‘bees’.
What else can you do?