UK: Pesticides that kill honey bees not banned

The Soil Association has condemned Hilary Benn’s decision not to ban chemicals known to kill honey bees. In a letter to the Soil Association, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has rejected calls to prohibit use of the group of pesticides (Neonicotinoids) which have already been withdrawn in France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia. There is now a mounting body of evidence from other European countries of the damaging effects these insecticides have on the neurological and immune systems of honey bees. Hilary Benn’s decision coincides with the opening of the laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects, and follows his announcement of 4.3 million £ of funding to try and save the British honey bee.
 

Peter Melchett, Soil Association Policy Director, said: “While new funding and new research are welcome, it will not help if the Government ignores existing scientific evidence that has led other countries to ban chemicals known to kill bees. The Government prefers to blame ‘very wet weather’ and poor management by ‘less experienced beekeepers’ than to face their own responsibility to control bee-killing chemicals that have been used on up to 1.5 million acres of farmland in the UK.”

Others are less frightened of facing facts - the Co-op has just donated 150,000 £ for their 10-point ‘plan bee’ to save the bees, and has banned the use on their farms of all Neonicotinoid sprays. The Soil Association has published a briefing paper that supports the Co-op’s position, and summarises the evidence of the damaging impacts of Neonicotinoids. Bees are acutely susceptible to pesticides for a number of reasons.  Honey bees have less detoxifying capacity in their bodies compared to some other insects, and this makes bees particularly susceptible to sub-lethal exposure to pesticides.  Honey bees have also been found to have a higher number of the neurological receptors that are targeted by Neonicotinoids than other insects.
 

www.soilassociation.org