Brussels, 29/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - The EU has saved face and bees will have their lives saved by a decision to be taken in the near future by the European Commission to suspend for two years the use in the European Union of three of the most deadly bee-killing pesticides, imidaclopride, thiametoxame and chlothianidine. EU experts on an appeals committee did not reach a qualified majority in Brussels on Monday 29 April to approve the Commission's plan for a ban (see EUROPE 10836), but a clear majority voted in favour of a temporary ban so that the Commission can take the decision itself, which it promptly promised to do.
On 15 March 2013, at a meeting of the EU's Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, 13 member states voted in favour of a ban, but did not achieve a qualified majority, so the matter was sent to the Commission's appeals committee.
This time, 15 member states voted in favour of the temporary ban (Germany, Bulgaria and Estonia, which had previously abstained, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Denmark, Spain, Luxembourg, Latvia, Slovenia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden); 8 voted against (including the United Kingdom, Hungary and Italy, the latter voted in favour in March) and 4 abstained (Ireland, Greece, Lithuania - which previously had voted against - and Finland).
Tonio Borg, Health and Consumer Commissioner, said: “Although a majority of member states now support our proposal, the necessary qualified majority was not reached. The decision now lies with the Commission. Since our proposal is based on a number of risks to bee health identified by the European Food Safety Authority, the Commission will go ahead with its text in the coming weeks.” To conclude: “I pledge to do my utmost to ensure that our bees, which are so vital to our ecosystem and contribute over €22 billion annually to European agriculture, are protected”.
The ban will restrict the use of the three 3 bee-killing neonicotinoids for seeds, soil and plants and cereals that are attractive to bees. Other uses will be allowed, but only by farmers. Exceptions will be limited to use on plants attractive to bees in greenhouses or open fields only when flowers have died back. It will not be possible to get authorisation to spray crops before they flower, which is why Italy has changed its mind and is now opposed to the ban.
In order to win the support of as many countries as possible, the Commission agreed to water down its ban by postponing the temporary moratorium until 1 December 2013 (rather than 1 July 2013). Germany abstained in March at the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health because the pesticides in question are made by German pharma giant Bayer and Swiss giant Syngenta, but it joined the supporters of the ban when told that tests would be ongoing. The Commission ignored Hungary's call for national exemptions.
The Commission's plan to press ahead with the ban was welcomed by all bee-keeping groups and others concerned at the collapse in bee numbers, such as the chair of the European Parliament's environment committee, Matthias Groote, who said that MEPs have to act seriously when there is scientific proof and in January, members of the EP's environment committee urged the Commission to take action when the opinions of the EFSA and European Environment Agency were published. Bees play a crucial role in the food chain and are declining at an alarming rate, but detailed data is not yet available and it is important now to try to understand exactly how neonicotinoids affect bees.
In a press release published on Monday, PAN Europe (Pesticide Action Network Europe) immediately “congratulated DG SANCO (of the Commission) for its perseverance to maintain its ban proposal as it originally was, despite the incredible pressures it received from Bayer and Syngenta as well as the nasty game played by countries such as Germany, UK, Hungary or Austria”. In the view of PAN Europe, “these countries have developed huge efforts to undermine the proposal of the Commission and to gather a majority of member states in favour of a modified proposal filled with exemptions possibilities that would have watered down the effect of the proposed ban”.
Nonetheless, PAN Europe would like to stress that a temporary ban is not enough to protect the environment and calls on the Commission for a ten-year ban on all neonicotinoids “in order to efficiently clarify their role in the massive disappearance of honeybees in Europe”.
Stéphane Le Foll, the French Minister for agriculture, food and forestry, immediately welcomed the forthcoming decision of the Commission. “I welcome this moratorium on neonicotinoids at European level, which is the only thing which will allow the effective protection of bees whilst preserving the competitiveness of French farmers against their European colleagues” he said (our translation), pointing out that the decision comes on top of the suspension of the market authorisation of Cruiser OSR brought in by France on 29 June 2012. (AN/transl.fl)