Brussels, 02/08/2013 (Agence Europe) - Dr Helen Thompson, the UK government's senior bee scientist at the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA) and an expert in the assessment of the risks that pesticides present for bees, is to leave her post to join Syngenta, a leading manufacturer of insecticides, on 1 September, the European Beekeeping Coordination announced on Thursday 1 August. Indignant at what it calls a massive conflict of interest, and given that Helen Thompson, as the UK's leading bee expert, represented the UK at meetings of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and other bodies, the European Beekeeping Coordination urges the European authorities and EU member states to “outlaw these suspicious career moves between 'Pesticide Regulation Agency' and Pesticide Manufacturer”. It goes on to say: “Public authorities must only employ truly independent scientists who can furnish them with independent, unbiased information. Measures should also be taken to control aggressive pesticide industry lobbying against public institutions and regulators”.
The European Beekeeping Coordination takes the view that the fact that the UK's leading bee expert can simply “jump ship” to join the staff of Syngenta is a massive conflict of interest as Thompson was “supposedly regulating” the pesticide industry.
The organisation points out that Thompson carried out a highly criticised study, deemed to be “disastrous and flawed”, on the toxic impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on bumblebees. Also, as former secretary and current chairperson of the ICPPR bee protection group, she dismissed and discounted peer-reviewed scientific studies which confirmed the disastrous impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on bees. The European Beekeeping Coordination accuses Thompson of having publicly played down concerns linked to the death of bee colonies in relation to the pesticides, mainly in her statement on the British TV channel, Channel Four, in 2011.
FERA advised the UK government to oppose the European ban on neonicotinoid pesticides. The spokesman of FERA assures “there is no conflict of interest” in the fact that Thompson is leaving her post as risk assessor to joint Syngenta. “But how can anyone trust a 'so-called' bee-scientist who was paid to advise pesticide manufacturers, at the same time as she was supposedly giving neutral, unbiased advice to UK policy makers, on bee health and pesticide risk assessment?” The European Beekeeping Coordination considers the very fact of asking that question is in itself an answer. (AN/transl.jl)