After a minister granted an emergency exemption, an insecticide that was banned for its harmful effects on bees will be used in Britain to control sugar beet. Campaigners called the decision scandalous and the government overruled its scientific advisors.
After a series bee-harming studies, the neonicotinoid, thiamethoxam (or thiamethoxam), was banned in Europe in 2018. British Sugar applied for an exemption in an emergency and was granted permission on Tuesday. The conditions for the exemption were met.
A national forecast of virus yellows, a disease spread via aphids to crop crops, predicted that 69% would be affected. This is well above the 19% threshold.
The exemption was also granted for 2021, but it was not implemented because of low virus yellows forecasts. According to the government in 2020, the virus had reduced sugar beet’s national yield by 25%.
Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said that it was scandalous that this pesticide could be approved. The government has set out ambitious goals to restore nature and reverse the decline of precious wildlife. It is also allowing the use of a toxic chemical that could pollute soils or rivers and harm pollinating insects.
He said that we need to restore the natural environment and gradually wean ourselves from using chemicals in agriculture. It is time that the government listened and learned from their own experts, who said that they could not support the use this pesticide because it is too dangerous. Wildlife Trusts also stated that the virus yellows forecast was incorrect in the past.
Matt Shardlow, the head of Buglife, stated: It is distressing to see rivers and flowers in eastern England polluted this summer with toxic insecticides. This will have a huge impact on bees, mayflies, and many other animals. Neonicotinoids should be banned. These approvals must be stopped, despite all expert advice.
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs stated that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs made the following statement: The Department took seriously the decision to grant an emergency authorisation. It was based on a rigorous scientific assessment.
We carefully assess the risks and only issue temporary emergency authorisations for restricted insecticides when there are no other options.
The British Beet Research OrganisationAll sugar beet growers must comply with the strict stewardship guidelines that have been established by the Health and Safety Executive.
It was stated that flowering crops that would attract pollinators couldn’t be grown in pesticide-treated areas for 32 months.
January is when the In principle, exemption was grantedGeorge Eustice, the environment secretary, wrote: The dose at which no negative effects on bees occurs is unknown.
Therefore, it was impossible to eliminate the possibility of bees being at risk from the exposure to neonicotinoid-treated flowering plants.
Two-thirds of the UK’s sugar is made from sugar beet grown at home. In the last three years, 12 EU countries, including France, Belgium and Denmark, have granted emergency authorisations to neonicotinoid usage.
Michael Gove, then environment secretary, stated that the evidence now supports the dangers neonicotinoids pose for our environment, especially for the bees, and other pollinators, who play such an important role in our 100bn food sector. We cannot afford to risk the health of our pollinator population.
A series of 2021 studies by scientists revealed that insect populations worldwide are dying from a thousand cuts. Many of these deaths were due to pesticides.
A 2017 study found that nearly all farms could reduce pesticide use and still produce as much food.
