Brussels, 14/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - There can be no compromises when it comes to saving the bee population. Ahead of the vote by experts from the EU standing committee on the food chain and animal welfare on the Commission's proposal for a two-year suspension of the use of toxic pesticides that are wiping out bee colonies (see EUROPE 10777 and 10776), environmentalists urge the member state experts not to let up their fight. It is a categorical imperative to adopt the moratorium proposed on the three most dangerous pesticides or neonicotinoid insecticides (imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin), they say, concerned about the idea that some of the member states have started to backpedal.
In Strasbourg, Sandrine Bélier (Greens/EFA, France) sounded the alarm on Wednesday, saying: “The news is not good. It has come to our notice that an alternative project is being prepared which contains considerable derogations, and will delay and even jeopardise withdrawal from the European market of the three products found to be toxic for bees, as demonstrated by EFSA in January. Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Austria, Spain and the Czech Republic are said to consider it out of proportion to ban complete use of those insecticides on plants that attract bees”. She went on to add that “it is unacceptable for such substances to remain on the market when EFSA confirms that the use of those molecules on crops that attract bees is dangerous” (our translation).
In a press release published on Thursday, Greenpeace drives the point home with even greater force, urging European governments not to bend to pressure from the pesticide industry but to listen to what the scientists have to say and protect European farming against harmful substances.
It states that the European and international scientific communities have constantly warned that neonicotinoids and other pesticides are contributing to the dramatic decline in the bee population. Ignoring such warnings would be irresponsible and harmful for European agriculture that is built on the work of bees and other pollinators. The Commission and the EU governments must introduce a ban on neonicotinoids and ensure that it is adhered to.
The environmental NGO points out that, in Europe, the pollination of crops by bees and other pollinator species brings in some €22 billion for agriculture and that the ban on neonicotinoids is already in force in France, Germany and Slovenia without having an adverse effect on agriculture. (AN/transl.jl)