Bees: Government urged to reject NFU application to use banned pesticide

Responding to today’s NFU announcement that it has applied for emergency use of banned neonicotinoid seed treatments for “a proportion of the English oilseed rape crop”, Friends of the Earth food and farming campaigner Sandra Bell said:

“With mounting scientific evidence of the threat neonicotinoids pose to our bees, the current ban on these pesticides should be strengthened - not weakened.

“Neonicotinoids can also harm the insects farmers need for natural pest control.  The NFU should concentrate on helping farmers to find effective alternatives to these harmful chemicals

“The UK Government must reject this application, to help safeguard our precious pollinators and send a clear signal that EU rules aimed at protecting our environment won’t be watered down post-Brexit.”

Friends of the Earth is also calling for:

• The NFU emergency neonicotinoid application to be made public.
• The Chemicals Regulation Directorate to immediately publish the results of the split-field study it commissioned - as a condition of the successful NFU application for neonicotinoid use in 2015, comparing crop losses of neonicotinoid-treated oilseed rape with untreated oilseed rape.

ENDS
 
 

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