Where were you May 31, 2002, when CBC News Radio’s As It Happens aired a report titled “Scientists investigate demise of bees in P.E.I. (Prince Edward Island)?” Right ... I don’t know either. I did not hear of it or read about it in our stateside newspapers.

The gist of that report was that about 50 percent of the products we eat require pollination by bees and that “honey bee populations have been dying off at alarming rates since the mid-1990s,” with mortality rates of  “up to 90 percent in their apiaries” in P.E.I., New Brunswick, Ontario, the Prairies and parts of the United States. Jim Kemp, botanist at the University of P.E.I, and his colleagues wanted to find out if residues from a potato pesticide called Admire, manufactured by Bayer, were responsible for the  honey bee demise. In the first year of results, the researchers did not find anything that pointed to Admire. They said other factors, such as management, stress or disease could be causing the problems.

On April, 15, 2007, an article by Amy Ellis Nutt ran in the Newark, New Jersey-based Star Ledger about the crucial importance of honey bee colonies to agriculture, and the demise of their colonies across the country. Now, in our own backyard, I still did not know about it. Did you?

Nutt noted that 140 billion commercially raised honey bees are responsible for pollinating about $20 billion worth of crops, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Waves of migratory beekeepers follow the blossoming trees and orchards up and down the United States, crating millions of bees to fields of sweet clover in Colorado; sun-drenched citrus groves in Florida; cucumber and melon patches in Virginia; apple orchards in Maine, New York and Wisconsin; cranberry bogs in New Jersey; cotton fields in West Texas; and almond trees in California.

Nutt also reported that, unlike farmers, beekeepers receive no government subsidies for their work. Many bee experts have given up the business in recent years and there are, in most states, no bee experts on the government payroll. Sorta shortsighted, don’t you think? I guess, much like global warming, most politicians don’t want to be tainted by belief.

Across the U.S., many hives placed near cornfields have completely emptied. Apiarists are calling these baffling phenomena Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Beekeepers reported estimates as high as 80 percent loss of their honey bee colonies. Penn State University entomologist Diana Cox-Foster and Nutt reported, after lengthy study, that genetically engineered corn may be the prime culprit (think Ethanol).

The chemical imidacloprid, an environmental pesticide used to coat corn kernels to repel insects, is toxic to honey bees, suppressing their immune systems, and was the primary cause of a huge die-off in France during the 1990s. The USDA and EPA have failed to adequately assess the potential for lethal impacts of engineered crop pesticides on pollinators such as honey bees and wild bees.

Laurel Hopwood, the chairwoman of Sierra Club’s genetic engineering committee, stated in 2007: “In searching for the cause of massive honey bee losses nationwide, we must leave no stone unturned to find the answer. Is the release of genetically engineering organisms the smoking gun?” She indicated that government regulators don’t look, so they don’t find. Dr. Barry Commoner, a prominent biologist, said in 2007: “Genetically engineered crops represent a huge uncontrolled experiment whose outcome is inherently unpredictable. The results could be catastrophic.” Genetic engineering involves the artificial transfer of genes from one organism into another, bypassing the protective barrier between species.

Another practice thought suspect is the feeding of  honey bee colonies genetically engineered corn syrup, which the government has also failed to study adequately. If genetically engineered crops are killing honey bees, a moratorium on their planting should be strongly considered.

Other causes under investigation are mites, microbial disease and habitat decline. In 2002, customs officials seized hundreds of queen bees being smuggled into Alberta, Canada, from the U.S. Canada has banned the import of bees from the continental U.S. to prevent the spread of parasitic Varroa mites, which can weaken honey bees.

A 2007 report in Science News noted a possible combination of sources is causing the bees to progressively and simultaneously lose their sense of direction, sense of smell and ability to communicate. The cohesion of the colony is destroyed and the bees just drift off to die alone, abandoning their queen.

Now, for the probable truth of the matter: The effects of mobile radio and wireless communication as noted by bioscientist Dr.Ulrich Warnke in his September, 2008, paper titled  “Effects of EM radiation on life.” Warnke said we have “overwhelming evidence that EM (electro-magnetic) radiation is indeed the cause of the disappearance of the bees, as well as other insects, birds, bats and other creatures.”

One common feature in their disappearance is disorientation caused by interference in their capacity to direct themselves by the earth’s magnetic field. In the Jan. 16 issue of “In These New Times,” it was reported that mobile radio and wireless communications, such as WiFi and cell phones, are indeed the main culprits. Humankind is among the creatures affected. Albert Einstein once said: “If all the honey bees disappeared, all the plants and animals, including man, would follow in less than four years.” I’d give it five or six, as I have abundant body fat.

You may respond directly to Diane Willee at dianewillee@yahoo.com.