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Victory Tastes Sweet for Bees

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The EU has announced that it is to ban neonicotinoid pesticides in a bid to save the continent’s bee populations. The controversial move will see three types of the pesticide phased out from December, in a ban set to last 2 years. Whilst the member states were divided over the scale of the effect of the pesticides on bees, 15 of the 27 voted against a ban which was enough to see legislation passed. There was fierce lobbying from environmental campaigners, such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, who hailed the news as a victory for bees. However, the chemical and farming industries were up in arms about the EU’s decision.

These industries are angry because they don’t believe there is enough scientific evidence to suggest that bee populations are declining as a result of the pesticide. They say this move by the EU has detracted attention away from the real causes of the decline, such as habitat loss, climate change and disease caused by the varroa mite. The UK was one of the member states which voted against a ban, with Environment Minister Lord de Mauley quoted as saying “Significant countries agree with us that a ban is not the right action to take and we will work with them to get much better evidence. We will now work with farmers to cope with the consequences as a ban will carry significant costs for them.”.

Neocotinoids are water-soluble pesticides that are sprayed on the soil or seeds before planting. The toxins are then exuded from the plant, including into the pollen which is why bees might be affected. Neonicotinoids are non-specific, and so target both the insect pests and pollinators. This ban will only apply to crops which are considered attractive to bee populations.

The environmentalists point to around 30 recent scientific studies which suggest that these pesticides are responsible for the decline in bee populations. Research has suggested that neonicotinoids affect bee’s nervous systems, and may also lessen the ability of hives to produce a queen bee. Scientists in favour of the ban suggests that the EU was right to implement the ban even if the volume of evidence is currently lacking, with Dr Lynn Dicks from the University of Cambridge noting “This is a victory for the precautionary principle, which is supposed to underlie environmental regulation”.

The reason why there is so much concern about the decline in bee populations is because of their value to the economy. As I pointed out in a recent blog (Top 5 Most Invaluable Species), bees pollinate the majority of the crops in our diet, and add millions of pounds a year to the agricultural economy. Their decline in the last few decades has been far too rapid, and if it continues at the current rate could have serious implications for the worldwide food supply in the coming years.

Photo credit: kyz / Foter.com / CC BY



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