UK to ban bee-killing pesticides but highly toxic type could still be allowed
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Ministers set out plans for outlawing neonicotinoids but considering application by farmers to use Cruiser SB. Bee-killing pesticides are to be banned by the UK government, as ministers set out plans to outlaw the use of neonicotinoids. However, the highly toxic neonicotinoid Cruiser SB could be allowed for use next year, as ministers are considering applications from the National Farmers’ Union and British Sugar.
This powerful pesticide poisons bees by destroying their nervous systems. Prof Dave Goulson, a bee expert at the University of Sussex, has said that one teaspoon of the chemical is enough to kill 1.25 billion honeybees. Even at non-fatal doses it can cause cognitive problems that make it hard for bees to forage for nectar, and the chemicals can stay in the soil for years.
Ministers say they have identified legislative options that would legally prevent the future use of three specific neonicotinoids – clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam – entirely. Paul de Zylva, nature campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “An end to the previous government’s annual pantomime of granting the ‘emergency’ use of these deeply harmful pesticides is long overdue. But we’re not out of the woods yet – the government must follow through by fully committing to a complete ban come January. And it must go even further still, by scrapping the current, weak national pesticides action plan and instead produce a credible version.”.
