Setting out the UK’s position, the Secretary of State
said the UK supports further restrictions on the use of
these pesticides. Unless the scientific evidence changes,
the government will maintain these increased restrictions
post-Brexit.
This follows advice from the UK government’s
advisory body on pesticideswhich said scientific
evidence now suggests the environmental risks posed by
neonicotinoids – particularly to our bees and pollinators
– are greater than previously understood, supporting the
case for further restrictions.
Research estimates the value of the UK’s 1,500 species of
pollinators to crops at £400-680million per year due to
improved productivity.
Environment Secretary said:
I have set out our vision for a Green Brexit in which
environmental standards are not only maintained but
enhanced.
I’ve always been clear I will be led by the science on
this matter. The weight of evidence now shows the risks
neonicotinoids pose to our environment, particularly to
the bees and other pollinators which play such a key
part in our £100bn food industry, is greater than
previously understood. I believe this justifies further
restrictions on their use. We cannot afford to put our
pollinator populations at risk.
I recognise the impact further restrictions will have
on farmers and I am keen to work with them to explore
alternative approaches both now and as we design a new
agricultural policy outside the European Union.
Since December 2013, the EU has banned the use of three
neonicotinoids – Clothianidin, Imidacloprid and
Thiamethoxam – on a number of crops attractive to bees,
such as oilseed rape.
The European Commission has proposed restricting the same
three neonicotinoids to only allow their use on plants in
glasshouses. Currently, their use is banned for oilseed
rape, spring cereals and sprays for winter cereals, but
they can be used to treat sugar beet and as seed
treatments for winter cereals. Should this proposal be
adopted, the UK would have the right to consider
emergency authorisations. We would only do so in
exceptional circumstances where there is a real need for
the products and the risk to bees and other pollinators
is sufficiently low.
Defra’s Chief Scientific Advisor Professor Ian Boyd said:
The important question is whether neonicotinoid use
results in harmful effects on populations of bees and
other pollinators as a whole.
Recent field-based experiments have suggested these
effects could exist. In combination with the
observation of widespread and increasing use of these
chemicals, the available evidence justifies taking
further steps to restrict the use of neonicotinoids.
Defra has today also given an update on its National
Pollinator Strategy, which shows encouraging progress
on its aims to make farms, towns, cities and the
countryside better places for our bees and pollinators.
The strategy was launched in 2014, following independent
research which showed an overall decline in the UK’s wild
bee diversity over the last 50 years. It sets out a
collaborative plan to improve the state of bees and other
pollinators, and recognises pesticides as one of the key
threats to their populations. The government will
continue to work with partners such as Friends of the
Earth, British Beekeepers’ Association and Kew to deliver
the ambitious strategy.
