Brussels, 01/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 31 January, French Agriculture Minister Stéphane Le Foll welcomed the proposals made by the European Commission to ban insecticides harmful to bees (see EUROPE 10776). “I welcome this decision by the Commission, which follows the logic of the withdrawal of the market authorisation of Cruiser OSR, on which I took the decision in June 2012”, he said.
On the same day, the Commission presented the proposal it hopes to put to the vote by the member states at the forthcoming meeting of the competent committee on 25 February. It proposes a two-year suspension of the use of three neonicotinoids (thiametoxam, clothianidin and imidaclopride) for four types of crop: maize, rapeseed, sunflowers and cotton. These two years will make it possible to set up new experiments to refine the data on these molecules, France argues.
According to the French Agriculture Minister, this proposal will make it possible to draw lessons from the opinions of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in a clear and harmonised way for the whole of the European Union. “France will remain attentive to ensuring that the ambition targeted by these proposals is translated into applicable texts for the forthcoming crop preparation year, in other words from 1 July of this year, but will also ensure that alternatives are available to farmers in situations which require them”, the French administration stressed. On 16 January, EFSA returned its opinion on three phytosanitary products in the neonocotid family. These opinions expressed risks for bees because of certain uses to treat seeds or grains. These risks are linked to exposure by pollen and nectar, and the emission of dust at seeding time or during guttation of the plant, particularly maize. (LC/transl.fl)