Research of effects of “wireless” radiation on birds often focuses on magnetoreception and navigation. Electromagnetic fields have been shown to disrupt the magnetic compass orientation used by birds to navigate (Schwarze, et al., 2016; Balmori, 2015; Wiltschko, et al., 2015; Engels, et al., 2015; Kavokin, et al., 2014; Ritz, et al. (2005). Ritz, et al. (2009)). Researchers have suggested this disruption of magnetoreception is due to cryptochrome photoreceptors which birds use as a biological compass. A critical review (Nimpf and Keays, 2022) of mechanisms of magnetoreception concluded that although it may not be the entire answer, cryptochrome is essential for magnetoreception, and that “frequency fields which influence the spin states of electrons have consistently been shown to perturb magnetic orientation in behavioral assays.”
Avian development and reproduction has also been found to be affected by exposure to radiofrequency radiation (Cucurachi, et al., 2013; Balmori, 2005).
Dr. Albert Manville, former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Senior Biologist, reviewed the literature on electromagnetic radiation exposure to birds and calls for “field research on thermal and non-thermal radiation impacts to wild migratory birds and other wildlife here in North America, similar to studies conducted in Europe” and well as, “Agencies tasked with the protection, management, and research on migratory birds and other wildlife need to develop radiation policies that avoid or minimize impacts to migratory birds and other trust wildlife species” (Manville, 2016). As a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biologist, in 2007 Dr. Manville presented the current research and proposed recommendations to Congressional staff members.
A 2017 report to UNESCO by botanist Mark Broomhall details the association between increasing amounts of electromagnetic radiation and species disappearance and exodus from the Mt. Nardi area of the Nightcap National Park World Heritage Area during a 15-year period (2000-2015.) The Report concludes, “With these short explanations of events we can appreciate the effects of this technology and its application on Mt. Nardi over the last fifteen years, affect not only the top of the life chain species but they are devastating the fabric of the continuity of the World Heritage, causing genetic deterioration in an insidious, massive and ever escalating scale.”
Quotes
“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.”
– U.S. Department of the Interior
“In addition to its impact on humans, radiofrequency radiation poses harmful effects to flora and fauna.”
– Natural Resources Defense Council Amicus Brief in EHT et al. v the FCC
“The Federal Communications Commission also completely failed even to acknowledge, let alone respond to, comments concerning the impact of RF radiation on the environment.”
– U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Ruling in EHT et. al. v FCC