HAZARDOUS EFFECTS OF RADIATIONS ON BIRDS AND INSECTS

1. EFFECT OF RADIATIONS ON HABITS OF
BIRDS AND INSECTS

2. Destroying of
Nature by
‘Electrosmog’
Insects,
Birds AND
others….

3. Acknowledgement
I would like to express my special thanks of
gratitude to my teacher as well as our principal for
their vital support, guidance and encouragement
without which this project would not have possible
and for giving me the golden opportunity to do this
wonderful project on the topic “Effect of radiation
on habits of Birds and Insects” which also helped
me in doing a lot of Research and I came to know
about so many new things .

4. CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Electromagnetic fields as prerequisite hazard to
insects and birds life
3. About the disappearing birds and insects
4. Effects of radiations on various birds and insects
5. Effect of UV B radiations
6. Conclusion

5. INTRODUCTION
There has been an enormous growth in the global
communication industry in recent years which has resulted in
a dramatic increase in the number of wireless devices. This
has led to the mushrooming of supporting infrastructure in
the form of cell towers which provide the link to and from the
mobile phone. Hence, the birds and insects are being exposed
to continuous, low intensity radiations from these towers. The
electromagnetic radiations, also known as electro smog
cannot be seen, smelt or felt, but have shown ill-effects of
radio-frequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) on bees, fruit
flies, birds and other insects.
The electromagnetic radiations are of two types:
• Ionizing radiations: Such as X-rays and gamma rays.
• Non-ionizing radiations:Such as electric and magnetic
fields, radio waves, radio- frequency band which includes
microwaves, infrared, ultraviolet, and visible radiation.
Research shows that Birds, Bees and Butterflies are sensitive
to electromagnetic fields. Their behaviour is disrupted and
their immune system is damaged by exposures to this
radiation.

6. All mobile phone towers emit microwave radiation, which is
radio frequency radiation (RFR), part of the spectrum of
electromagnetic waves. Long-term exposure to low level
RFR has damaging effects on the nervous system and
immune system of small insects and birds.
Electromagnetic fields as prerequisite hazard to
insects and birds life:
Electromagnetic radiation could produce the
following effects:
• Effects on reproduction.
• Effects on the circulatory and central nervous system.
• Effects on the bird’s health and well-being (microwave
syndrome).
• Indirect effects due to food shortage caused by
electromagnetic contamination (death of insects).

7. Radiation at extremely low levels caused heart attacks
and the deaths of some chicken embryos subjected to
hypoxic conditions in the laboratory while controls subjected to
hypoxia were unaffected. To date, no independent, third-party
field studies have been conducted in North America on impacts of
tower electromagnetic radiation on migratory birds.
Electromagnetic fields as
prerequisite hazard to insects and
birds life…
Electromagnetic radiation could produce the
following effects:
• Effects on reproduction.
• Effects on the circulatory and central nervous
system.
• Effects on the bird’s health and well-being
(microwave syndrome).
• Indirect effects due to food shortage caused by
electromagnetic contamination (death of insects).

8. “The electromagnetic field is the perfect secret
agent: you cannot see it, you cannot smell it,
you cannot hear it, you cannot feel it and its
effects are slow but relentless.”
“The electromagnetic radiation standards used by the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) continue
to be based on thermal heating, a criterion now nearly
30 years out of date and inapplicable today.”
The growth of wireless telecommunication technologies
causes increased electro smog. Radio frequency fields in
the MHz range disrupt insect and bird orientation.
Radio frequency noise interferes with the primary process
of magneto reception. Existing guidelines do not
adequately protect wildlife. Further research in this area is
urgent.
A Review of 113 studies from original peer-reviewed
publications. RF-EMF had a significant effect on birds,
insects, other vertebrates, other organisms and plants in
70% of the studies. Development and reproduction of
birds and insects are the most strongly affected endpoints.
At the present time, there are reasonable grounds for
believing that microwave radiation constitutes an
environmental and health hazard….Concerning the
exposure to electromagnetic fields, the precautionary
principle is needed and should be applied to protect
species from environmental non-thermal effects .Controls
must be introduced and technology rendered safe to the
environment, since this new ubiquitous and invisible

9. pollutant could deplete the efforts devoted to species
conservation.”
About the disappearing birds and
insects
The disappearance of millions and millions of birds and insects
means that something has gone terribly wrong in our
environment.
There are many likely contributing factors for this observation,
everything from pesticides to urban sprawl and pollution, but
there is an extremely pervasive, silent killer out there that hardly
anyone is mentioning:
Information-carrying radio waves
These radio waves are coming from your cell phones and other
wireless technologies, and they have increased exponentially in
the past three or four years alone.
It’s already known that birds living near mobile phone base
stations do not breed well. It’s also known that exposure to these
frequencies causes disorientation in migratory birds.
Now, at the end of 2007 there were 4 billion cell phones on the
planet. What this means is that even if you are one of the few who
decides not to use a cell phone, you are being exposed to
information-carrying radio waves at unprecedented levels, and so
are all of the birds, bugs and wildlife that live among us. In other
words, they’re everywhere.

10.  Effects on:
•Bees and Butterflies:
Chryptochromes pigments, found in the
eyes, are also affected by EMFs, so that
birds could not compensate accurately for
the position of
the sun. Without these solar and magnetic landmarks, they would
become completely lost.
Crypto chromes are very badly
affected by weak oscillating
electromagnetic fields that are
orders of magnitude weaker than
the Earth’s steady magnetic field.
This can disrupt both solar and
magnetic navigation, which can
account for colony collapse
disorder in bees and butterflies.
Bees use internal 'clocks' for navigation. Mobile phone radiation
can disrupt these biological clocks. Once disrupted in bees, they
are no longer able to compensate for the changing position of the
sun throughout the day, causing them to fly in the wrong

11. direction, away from the hive…
• Studies show that there has been a sharp decline in bee
population leading to damage to apiculture industry and also
increase in global warming
• Bees have been getting sick and disoriented, and whole hives
are being deserted
• Colony Collapse Disorder or Vanishing Bee Syndrome.
The initial quiet period was characterised in them by a rise in the
concentration of biomolecules, including proteins, carbohydrates
and lipids, perhaps due to stimulation of the body's mechanism to
fight the stressful condition created by the radiation.
In Butterflies It is also possible that the magneto reception
system in Monarch butterfly orientation may be suffering from
interference from RF, which may be a cause of their population
decline.
• BIRDS:
It is believed that the microwave radiation could distort the earth’s
magnetic field that the birds use for navigation. Birds are good
candidates as biological indicators for low-intensity electromagnetic
radiation; they have thin skulls, their feathers can act as dielectric
receptors of microwave radiation, many species use magnetic
navigation and possible psychosomatic effects are absent.
Birds, when exposed to low frequency EM radiations, they

12. disorient and
fly in different directions.
• Microwaves can interfere with their sensors and misguide them while
navigating and preying.
• A large number of birds like pigeons, sparrows, swans are getting lost
due to interference from the mobile phone towers.
• Birds near mobile phone base stations do not breed well.
• A few scientists claim that radiations can be responsible for the
persistence of Bird Flu that has been killing chickens and other fowl
and is officially attributed to a common virus with the designation
H5N1.
• PEACOCK:
Effects on peacocks is much more pronounced as its wings/feather
occupy more surface area resulting in large absorption of radiation,
and hence, creating more
health hazards leading to
various ailments and even
death.
• COCKROACHES:
Other animal studies have been done which suggest
that RF radiation may be affecting even vital insect
life and populations.
Animal navigation in the Earth's magnetic field is disrupted by even

13. weak radio waves .The frequencies in this study are lower than the
'carrier' frequencies used by mobile phones, but they are nevertheless
generated as 'out-of-band' radiation when they are
modulated to carry speech or information. Again, it is to do with
cryptochrome which regulates insect's immune systems, so RF makes
them more susceptible to
pathogens
• MOSQUITOE
S:
Mosquito is posing a threat in
all most all part of the world. Although great efforts have been made,
currently no effective vaccine and drug available for dengue and
chikungunya.
Therefore, mosquito vector control is the only option for prevention
of mosquito borne diseases. Conventional larval control methods
gained only partial results due to the peculiar ecobiology of the
species. Radiation has been used since the 1950s to sterilize the
insects, for sterile insect technique to control insect population. This
information can be utilized in planning radiation induced control
programme for the control of wild Aedes mosquitoes.
Morphological deformities due to the effect of γ-radiation at higher
doses on both pupae and adults of Aedes aegypti were noticed after
irradiation that indicates the somatic damage of pupae and adults.
ANTS :
Ants can be used as bio-indicators to reveal
biological effects of electromagnetic waves
from some wireless apparatus.

14. Experiments were conducted on 6 identical colonies of ants, exposing
them to RF radiation similar to those surrounding GSM and other
communications masts. Under this exposure, no association between
food and either
olfactory or visual cues occurred. After a recovery period, the ants were
able to make such an association but never reached the expected score.
Such ants having acquired a weaker olfactory or visual score and still
undergoing olfactory or visual training were again submitted to RF
EMFs.
A further study by Cammaerts showed similar catastrophic behaviour
changes and colony deterioration. RF severely affected the ants’ social
behaviour and physiology.
FLIES:
•
Exposing fruit flies to radiation for a few
minutes per day for the first 6 days of
their adult life, in both cases resulted in
DNA fragmentation. A further study
showed that the ovarian size of exposed flies was significantly smaller,
due to destruction of egg chambers by radiation. Continuous and
intermittent exposure both brought about a large decrease in the flies
reproductive capacity, due to DNA fragmentation.

15. EFFECT OF UV-B RADIATIONS:
UV-B means ultraviolet B radiation. It is also referred to as medium wave.
UV radiation might affect certain species but also insects and pests,
thus counterbalancing the direct negative effects of increased UV
radiation. Birds have very thin skin and thinner corneas compared
to mammals. This is why they appear to be more sensitive to
ultraviolet light than mammals and reptiles. This is especially a
concern for birds that have bare facial skin, such as
African greys and macaws.

16. RESEARCHES IN INDIA
Set a bird song as your mobile ringtone. For that may soon be the only
way you get to hear from our winged friends….
• Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and
Natural History (SACON) Coimbatore:
Studies at SACON show that the increasing number of cell phone towers
in cities is bringing down bird population. Researchesshow there are
enough reasons to attribute bird mortality to such radiation. "Cell phones
and towers emit a very low frequency of 900 or 1,800 MHz, called
microwaves. Studies have found 185 that they can cause thin skulls of
chicks and thin egg shells," says Dhanya R, a researcher at SACON.
• Centre for Environment and Vocational
Studies of Punjab University:

17. The team at the Centre for Environment and Vocational Studies of
Panjab University, headed by RK Kohli, exposed 50 eggs to EMR for
durations of five minutes to 30 minutes. All the 50 embryos were
damaged. It's almost like being micro waved.
CONCLUSION
First the Honeybees, Now the Birds,
Next … Humans?
It would be natural to assume that the bees insects and the birds are
the only living creatures being impacted here. Perhaps because they
are smaller, or more sensitive to the radio waves and changes in
frequencies, they are being tragically impacted right now.
But who, or what, will be next?.......
•In addition to the continuous radiation from cell towers, there is
radiation from cell phones, wireless phones, computers, laptops,
TV towers, FM towers, microwave ovens, etc.
•We are exposed to all these radiations, which are additive in
nature. Stricter radiation norms must be enforced by the policy
makers across the globe. This does not mean that we have to stop
living near these towers.

18. •Similarly, the solution to avoid excess radiation is to use radiation
shield, which absorbs 10% to 50% of radiation depending upon its
placement and direction of source of radiation. Multiple units can
absorb radiation up to 80% to 90%
•Mobile companies should not be in the denial mode, and accept
that radiation causes serious health problems, only then people all
over the world will carry out research to come out with solution.
Bibliography
• http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in /report-on-
possible-impacts-of-communication-towers-on-
wildlife-including-birds
• http://www.news18.com/news/india/radiation-from-
mobile-towers-affecting-wildelife
• www.biolmedonline.com/ArticlesImpacts of radio-
frequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF)
• zeenews.india.com/tags/insects
• timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/pollution/r
adiation
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.govElectromagnetic Fields/adverse
effects.

19. • shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.inill-effects of radio-frequency
electromagnetic field on bees, fruit flies
• www.newmediaexplorer.org
• indianexpress.com/article/cities/radiation-from-cell-tower