Brussels, 16/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament (EP) considers it important to take urgent measures to protect bee health and has repeated its concern that, if left unchecked, “increased mortality among honeybees and wild pollinators in Europe would have a profound negative impact on agriculture, food production and security, biodiversity, environmental sustainability and ecosystems”. It is estimated that 84% of plant species and 76% of food production in Europe is dependent on pollination by bees.
The Greens/EFA Group in the EP feels the report, as adopted, contains significant gaps relating to the effect of pesticides and the health and economic impact of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) on bees and the activities of beekeepers. For that reason, the Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL Groups brought forward an alternative resolution. This was defeated in plenary session, garnering only 170 votes for, with 454 against and 12 abstentions. The alternative resolution called for a moratorium on genetically modified crops until independent studies which have been put to peer assessment reveal the effect on bee health.
In adopting the report by Csaba Sándor Tabajdi (S&D, Hungary) on honeybee health (by 534 votes to 16, with 92 abstentions), the EP calls on the Commission to improve risk assessment methodology for pesticides “in order to protect colony health and population development and to ensure appropriate access to the findings and methodology of ecotoxicological studies included in the authorisation dossiers”. Pesticides may have harmful effects on bees and the health of bee colonies, MEPs accept. The EP calls for a system to be set up to encourage preliminary notification of beekeepers in all member states in advance of pesticide applications, especially aerial insecticidal treatment operations (e.g. mosquito controls), and a system to provide on request information about the position of hives when these operations take place.
MEPs also highlight the need to offer the pharmaceutical industry incentives for the development of new medicinal products designed to combat bee diseases.
Production and food safety, protection of origin. The Parliament calls on the Commission “constantly” to monitor the animal health situation in source countries, to apply the strictest animal health requirements and to put in place an appropriate monitoring system for the propagation material coming from third countries, in order to avoid introducing exotic bee diseases/parasites such as Aethina tumida beetles and Tropilaelaps mites into the EU.
MEPs call for a provisional threshold limit (Reference Point for Action) of 10 ppb to be set for veterinary products authorised in the European Union, given the different analytical methods that are applied in the various member states. The Commission is also asked to include No Action Levels (NALs) or Reference Points for Action (RPAs) or Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) in honey and other apicultural products for substances that cannot be authorised for the European beekeeping sector, and also to harmonise veterinary border controls and controls on the internal market. The EP says that, in the case of honey, low-quality imports, adulteration and substitutes distort the market and exert constant pressure on prices and the final quality of the product on the EU's internal market, and there must be “a level playing field for products/producers from the EU and from third countries”.
Reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP). The Parliament calls on the Commission to provide “significantly more financial resources”, by stepping up the current support for apiculture in the CAP after 2013 and guaranteeing the continued existence and improvement of the existing support programmes (Regulation (EC) No 1221/97) for the beekeeping sector. It calls on the Commission to provide a safety net or a common insurance system for apiculture in order to mitigate the impact of crisis situations on beekeepers.
Conservation of biodiversity. The EP urges the Commission, within the framework of Council Directive 92/65/EEC of 13 July 1992, to ban, at least temporarily, the import from third countries of live bees and species of the genus Bombus sp. in order to prevent the introduction of exotic diseases. (LC/transl.rt)