Sense of Smell and Sight Perturbed in Ants Exposed to GSM Radiation: Study at Université Libre, Brussels

The European editors of two international journals refused to publish this Belgian study which shows serious perturbations in the olfactory and visual memories of ants exposed to electromagnetic radiation similar to that surrounding GSM and communication masts. The American journal, “Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine” accepted the study for publication in June 2012. Thank you to Teslabel for this information (www.teslabel.be).  Original article in French. “These communication waves may have such a disastrous impact on a wide range of insects using olfactory and/or visual memory, e.g., on bees.” Following is the abstract of the article. GSM 900 MHz radiation inhibits ants' association between food sites and encountered cues. Cammaerts MC, De Doncker P, Patris X, Bellens F, Rachidi Z, Cammaerts D. Source:  Université Libre de Bruxelles, Faculté des Sciences, Bruxelles, Belgium. mtricot@ulb.ac.be Abstract The kinetics of the acquisition and loss of the use of olfactory and visual cues were previously obtained in six experimental colonies of the ant Myrmica sabuleti meinert 1861, under normal conditions. In the present work, the same experiments were conducted on six other naive identical colonies of M. sabuleti, under electromagnetic radiation similar to those surrounding GSM and communication masts. In this situation, 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 electromagnetic waves. Not only did they lose all that they had memorized, but also they lost it in a few hours instead of in a few days (as under normal conditions when no longer trained). They kept no visual memory at all (instead of keeping 10% of it as they normally do). The impact of GSM 900 MHz radiation was greater on the visual memory than on the olfactory one. These communication waves may have such a disastrous impact on a wide range of insects using olfactory and/or visual memory, i.e., on bees. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=22268919