Brussels, 05/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 3 May, EU member states approved a European Commission proposal to fund the activities of the European reference laboratory on bee health.
The Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health voted in favour of a Commission proposal to provide some €250,000 by the end of the year to the ANSES-Sophia Antipolis lab in France, which has been designated as the EU reference laboratory for bee health with effect from 1 April 2011. The lab has been tasked, inter alia, with defining and coordinating the methods used in member states for diagnosing bee diseases, monitoring bee loss, and organising the training of experts in order to harmonise diagnostic techniques throughout the EU.
“Little is known about the role that bee diseases play in increased bee mortality” or about the interaction between diseases and other factors and how this contributes to adverse bee health, the Commission states. (L.C./transl.rt)