Return of ‘Banned’ Bee-Killing Pesticide Divides Parliament
Government plans to bring back deadly pesticides condemned as a ‘betrayal’ amidst record losses of British bees
Plans to resume the use of neonicotinoid pesticides this year has sparked debate in parliament this week, following comments from MP Luke Pollard. Neonicotinoids impair bee brains, stopping them from flying, sleeping and finding food.
“Research suggests that a third of the UK bee population is thought to have vanished in the last ten years, Pollard told parliament last Wednesday. He continued, “instead of taking action to protect our bees in a meaningful way, I’m concerned that the government has chosen instead to temporarily lift the ban“.
Last month, the government approved the temporary use of the pesticide thiamethoxam on sugar beet crops. The pesticide, banned under EU law, can be authorised for use in the case of an emergency. The government claims the yellows virus, currently damaging sugar beet yields, can only be brought under control with dangerous neonicotinoid pesticides.
Joan Edwards, the Director of Policy and Public Affairs at the Wildlife Trust, disagrees. After last months announcement, she said: “The Government’s decision to allow farmers to use a banned chemical goes against the expert advice of its own Health and Safety Executive, and the Expert Committee on Pesticides. It’s a clear betrayal of promises made to protect the natural world”. She warned, “thiamethoxam is known to have a devastating effect on wildlife — a single teaspoon is toxic enough to kill 1.25 billion bees.”
At the time of the ban in 2008, then Environment Secretary Michael Gove stated: “Unless the evidence base changes again, the government will keep these restrictions in place after we have left the EU“.
Pollard labelled last months U-turn — “a dramatic fall and an erosion of our overall steps towards being a net-zero, nature-positive country.“
The evidence against the use of neonicotinoids is stacking up. Following their use, bee populations take up to two years to recover. The pesticide destroys bees brain cells, rendering them flightless, and causing them to forget where food is.
A large-scale study from 2017 examined an area of neonicotinoid use the size of 3000 football pitches, spread over the UK, Germany and Hungary. The research conducted by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology found bee numbers in the UK and Hungary significantly fell and failed to recover the following year.
Germany’s bees suffered the least — attributed to the countries larger bee numbers and healthy wildflower populations. The UK has lost 97 per cent of wildflowers since the 1930s. Without them, bees have less food and struggle to establish colonies.
Britain’s bees can’t afford to suffer any more losses, as a third of all the country’s species are threatened with extinction, with 13 already extinct. Three-quarters of the crops grown in Britain need bees for pollination, and without them, it would cost farmers £1.8 billion.
In 2020, the government signed the Leaders Pledge for Nature, committing the UK to reverse the decline of nature by 2030. So far, government missteps and inaction means they’re unlikely to hit their targets.
Attempts last year by the government to bring back the pesticide failed. After revoking the ban last January, they reversed their decision before farmers started using it, following a public backlash.
The Environment Bill, passed last November, failed to give stronger protection to bees. An amendment from the house of Lords attempted to limit the harm done to pollinators. Despite over 60,000 people signing a petition calling on the government to accept the amendment, it didn’t pass.
