permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

EU vote on pesticides is bugged by complexities - Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/beekeeping/9899455/EU-vote-on-pesticides-is-bugged-by-complexities.html

"On March 14 the EU will vote on the use of neonicotinoids in pest control
products. The threat of the ban, along with fears about the chemicals' side
effects, has already prompted Homebase and B&Q to remove products from
their shelves.

Neonicotinoid chemicals used in pesticides to kill bugs such as vine
weevil, aphids and whitefly have been implicated as damaging to bees by
several scientific studies, as well as the EU risk assessment body, the
European Food Safety Authority.

The EFSA says that imidacloprid and clothianidin, made by Bayer, and
thiamethoxam, made by Syngenta, can kill bees feeding on flowering crops.
This follows studies by the University of Stirling and by French scientists
that found that bees consuming neonicotinoids suffered an 85 per cent loss
in the number of queens. There was also a doubling in the number of
"disappeared" bees that were lost while foraging.

Paul de Zylva, senior campaigner with Friends of the Earth, says that
almost 1,000 garden retailers have removed products after campaigns by FOE
and others. It is still the case, however, that many plants sold at garden
centres will have received a dose of one of these products prior to sale to
control vine weevil.

"Public confidence has waned around the issue of pesticides," says de
Zylva. "This is not too dissimilar to the way the public feels about
supermarkets and horsemeat. They feel let down.""