The Ecologist




 
A short-haired bumblebee

Conservationists have repeated calls for neonicotinoids to be banned to protect bees

More articles about
Related Articles

Renewed call for pesticide ban to protect bees

Ecologist

14th September, 2009

Previous calls to ban neonicotinoids have been turned down by the UK government because of lack of evidence

Environmental groups have repeated calls for neonicotinoid pesticides to be banned because of their damage to honey bee populations.

Neonicotinoid pesticides are a comparatively new group of synthetic chemicals used as a coating for agricultural seeds and in pot plants. The chemicals spread throughout the plant and into the nectar and pollen that bees then eat.

A report from the conservation group Buglife and backed by the Soil Association and Pesticide Action Network UK, has linked the pesticides, widely used on farms and at plant nurseries, to widespread declines in wild bee populations.

Ban needed

The Buglife report shows that bees eating nectar and pollen contaminated with one of the most common neonicotinoid forage less and produce fewer offspring.

Buglife says the current approval process is inadequate and that the use of neonicotinoids should be temporarily suspended. 

Similar calls were made last year but Defra said there was not enough evidence to ban the pesticide.

'A number of independent studies show that the pesticides are damaging to bees,' said Bumblebee Conservation Trust Director Dr. Ben Darvill. 'The studies carried out by agro-chemical companies show that they are not damaging.

'My own view is that the sensible precautionary principle should be used until they are proven safe,' he said.

The NFU backed calls for an independent assessment of the impact of neonicotinoids but said it would not support a ban unless there was 'clear evidence' that its use was a factor in the decline in honey bee populations.

Useful links
Buglife report
Soil Association 'Save the honeybee' campaign

See also

 

Previous Articles...

Users Comments

Re: Renewed call for pesticide ban to protect bees
Posted By peterloringborst 1 September 15, 2009 01:19:30 PM

What this report and others like it fail to recognize is the the honey bee population of Europe and the USA is at a critical stage due primarily to multiple infections from parasites, and viruses. Added to this are harsh chemicals that beekeepers use to treat these same infections. The effect of neonicotinoids in this mix would be very hard to tease out, but the underlying problem is the sad state of bee health to begin with. It looks like scapegoating to go after farmers who are just trying to protect their crops, by banning this new generation of insecticide which may in fact be safer than previous ones. Peter Loring Borst Ithaca, NY USA

Re: Renewed call for pesticide ban to protect bees
Posted By mikestryk 1 September 19, 2009 12:44:16 PM

I'm not sure how much this government can appreciate that when you have all these foreign chemicals being thrust into thew natural environment they attack ones immune system. Not just bees but you as well. This then predisposes one to be unable to fend off natural enemies of your species such as well known viruses and parasites. This is why one in three folks get cancer now instead of one in 20 or none, as was the case in the past. This apparently unknown piece of data coupled with the unwillingness of "new labour" to do it's job in acting as a regulator to large corporations is why we are seeing a large scale drop off in bee populations right now. Anyone with a brain and a basic knowledge of what man kind needs to survive would have come down hard on this by now along with all other pesticide use and banned the lot right across the board. Trditional crop rotated farming does NOT need pesticides! Alas, the people who lend money to the governments are the ones that really run the planet and their unstoppable lust for money and power may well kill us all. Maybe there are still enough good people around with enough power to halt this fast approaching Armageddon for life on earth as we know it.
Post a Comment
Security Code* Get another image
 
 

Members





Follow the Ecologist