Study: Cell phones may be killing bees

SUSSEX, England (CNN) - They pollinate our flowers. They make our honey. For such small creatures, bees are quite important. So, researchers want to know, what's killing so many of them? Mobile phones could be one of the culprits.

Something is killing the bees. That much is certain. Britain has seen a 17% decline in the bee population over the last year. In the United States, it's around 30%.

It's been dubbed "Colony Collapse Disorder." Experts say possible culprits are a pest called Varroa, pesticides, climate change and loss of habitat. Now, some say, add to that the "possible" radiation from mobile phones.

New research from scientists at Punjab University in India claims microwave radiation from mobile phones could be part of the problem.

Researchers fitted mobile phones to a hive and powered them up for two 15-minute periods each day. After three months, they found the bees stopped producing honey, egg production by the queen bee halved, and the size of the hive dramatically reduced.

"Animals including insects, use cryptochrome for navigation. They use it to sense the direction of the earth's magnetic field and their ability to do this is compromised by radiation from mobile phones and their base stations. So basically bees do not find their way back to the hive," said biologist Dr. Andrew Goldsworthy.

Dr. Goldsworthy has written to the UK communications regulator Ofcom suggesting they change the phone frequencies so bees won't be confused.

"It's possible to modify the signal coming from the mobile phones and the base station in such a way that it doesn't produce the frequencies that disturb the cryptochrome molecules. So they could do this without the signal losing its ability to transmit information," the doctor explained.

Ofcom has passed the details on to the mobile phone companies. CNN contacted the Mobile Phone Operators Association who responded, "Research scientists have already considered possible factors involved in Colony Collapse Disorder and have identified the areas for research into the causes of CCD which do not include exposure to radiowaves."

And expert bee scientists are skeptical.

"We know they are sensitive to magnetic fields. What we don't know is what use they actually make of them. And no one has yet demonstrated that honey bees use the earth's magnetic field when navigating," said Norman Carreck, Scientific Director of the International Bee Research Association.

But why does the future of the humble bee matter? Imagine a world without bees, a loss of orchards or meadows, no flowering plants, no honey. The reality? No one knows exactly why the bees are dying, but one thing is for certain - bees matter.