Ask the Prime Minister to overturn the decision to allow bee-killing pesticides!

admin
, 14 January 2021
Ask the Prime Minister to overturn the decision to allow bee-killing pesticides!
Red-tailed bumblebee ©Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography

Sign our petition now

The Secretary of State, George Eustice has agree to authorise the use of highly damaging neonicotinoid thiamethoxam for the treatment of sugar beet seed in 2021. Sussex Wildlife Trust opposes this decision. We are in a biodiversity crisis where all efforts should be focused on restoring wildlife, not putting more toxic chemicals into the ecosystem. 

In 2017, the UK Government supported restrictions on the neonicotinoid pesticides across the European Union due to the very clear harm that they were causing to bees and other wildlife. The then Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, promised that the Government would maintain these restrictions unless the scientific evidence changed. The evidence has not changed.
 
It’s true that sugar beet is a non-flowering crop, but we know that only 5% of the neonicotinoid put on the seed goes into the plant, the rest accumulates in the soil and is washed into our rivers. The Government know this too, that’s why the authorisation involves a requirement to remove any wildflowers that grow alongside the sugar beet by adding weedkiller - on the basis that this will 'protect' bees from beneficial 'weeds' that will have absorbed neonicotinoids through the contaminated soil! 
 
With climate change set to increase the frequency of warmer and wetter winters in the UK, boosting the number of aphids which spread the sugar beet virus, this problem isn’t going to go away. So although the authorisation is for emergency use, there is a significant risk that emergency authorisation could become a common occurrence and the UK could see the return of routine application of neonicotinoid pesticides. This has already happened in some countries in Europe.
 
We understand the difficulties farmers are facing, but there should not be a binary choice between their economic wellbeing and the plight of bees and wild pollinators. The Government should be assisting farmers to adopt non-chemical alternatives that are proven to support nature long-term. Allowing this derogation of the law preventing the use of neonicotinoids is the start of a slippery slope and the decision must be reversed before further damage to our native pollinators is done.
 
Help bees by signing the petition now
 
You can read The Wildlife Trusts’ full statement here

Leave a comment

Comments

  • Lisa Rigby:

    This is not the solution to a problem. Short term fixes shouldn’t lead to catastrophe.

    14 Jan 2021 18:42:00

  • Joanna Taylor:

    Please act to protect our precious wildlife.

    14 Jan 2021 19:03:00

  • Alex Leith:

    Get a grip, Eustice, do you not worry what sort of world your grandchildren will live in?

    14 Jan 2021 19:20:00

  • Sandie Jackson:

    This is so disappointing. I believed that this government was committed to protecting bees.

    14 Jan 2021 20:34:00

  • Kim:

    Awful

    15 Jan 2021 08:39:00

  • jonathan jones:

    Commit to life!

    15 Jan 2021 09:16:00

  • Roy Wolfe:

    The use of such a dangerous pesticide (neonicotinoid thiamethoxam) is unacceptable even for emergency use, as the word emergency gives licence for it to be used at any time. This would further destroy our already fragile ecosystem. Less sugar would be good for us all.

    21 Jan 2021 12:59:00

  • Cedric Stone:

    In this case i believe you are being unnecessarily alarmist. It is s temporary measure for a very small niche part of arable agriculture . Many EU countries are doing the same. Importantly it does not allow the use of these in oil seed rape which is widely grown.

    21 Jan 2021 13:24:00

  • Wendi Vaughan-Noon:

    This is so important

    21 Jan 2021 15:39:00

  • Mya Gillman:

    Please don’t kill the bees 🐝🥺

    21 Jan 2021 16:04:00

  • Andrew Macdonald:

    Too right bees don’t visit the plant – it’s a biennial & flowers in the second year – it’s wind pollinated & bees don’t visit it. The UK crop is grown for the root for sugar & so is harvested in year one.
    Without a seed treatment, farmers have no alternative but to apply far more harmful broad spectrum insecticides such as pyrethroids, which are not even that effective at controlling aphids, & kill many beneficial insects. So by banning the seed dressing, more insects are actually killed.
    I agree that neonics should not be applied to crops in flower – no responsible farmer would do that anyway.
    I’d be interested to know where your statement comes from that only 5% of the seed dressing stays on the seed & the rest is washed into the soil & water courses – seed dressings prevent foliar insecticde applications in many instances, which would be far more harmful. You do not attribute this assertion to any body in your statement – who has said it?
    If you want to see the effect on the sugar industry, which is a key crop for many farmers in the East of the country, watch out for Andrew Ward’s blogs on the subject.

    21 Jan 2021 18:58:00

  • Sussex Wildlife Trust:
    @Andrew Macdonald:

    Farmers should not have to decide between nature or crop. We want farmers to be supported to adopt non-chemical alternatives so that agriculture supports nature, and does not destroy it. Even if farmers do sow treated sugar beet seed, they will still be using a broad-scale herbicide to ‘protect’ bees from beneficial flowering ‘weeds’ within the crop that will have absorbed neonics through contaminated soil.

    Only approximately 5% of the active ingredient is taken up by the crop (Bulletin of Insectology 56 (1): 35-40, (2003)) . A little is lost as toxic dust that blows away and may affect flying insects or be deposited on non-target vegetation (Environ. Sci. Technol.46 (5) 2592–2599 (2012) but most enters the soil and water. For a useful summary, see Nature 511, 295–296 Goulson, D. Pesticides linked to bird declines (2014) and The Soil Association has a useful page of research and references .

    22 Jan 2021 10:13:00

  • Mandy Faulkner:

    Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “Our landmark Agriculture Act will create habitats for nature recovery and supporting the establishment of new woodland and other ecosystem services to help tackle challenges like climate change.” ….and now you say the Government has granted emergency authorisation of a neonicotinoid pesticide for use on sugar beet.
    George Eustice, how can you pledge one thing then act in the completely opposite way particularly when bees are fundamental to our survival – worldwide! We MUST Protect our pollinators!!

    22 Jan 2021 11:00:00

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