Britain set to back total ban on bee-harming pesticides

Stock image of a honeybee

Britain is set to back a total ban on bee-harming pesticides, Environment Secretary Michael Gove announced on Thursday (9 November).

Neonicotinoid pesticides, which are synthetic chemicals very similar to nicotine, first became available for controlling plant pests on crops and ornamental plants during the mid-1990’s.

Meant to kill insects that eat crops, ‘neo-nics’ are toxic nerve agents that paralyze and kill insects such as aphids, termites or fleas. The insecticides, which are used in sprays or seed coatings, are highly controversial as they also affect bees, a vital pollinator of 75% of the world’s food crops. In recent decades, the bee population has been in serious decline.

Writing in The Guardian, Mr Gove said he believed the evidence base ‘had grown’ and ‘residues’ of the pesticides can be found ‘across the landscape’. Neonicotinoids can also persist in soil for many years and have also been detected in areas with no known recent use.

Scientists who tested 198 samples of honey from across the globe discovered that half contained a cocktail of potent pesticides with three-quarters contaminated by at least one type of neonicotinoid. Most were contaminated with multiple types of the bee-harming insecticide.

The decision has been lauded as a positive U-turn in protecting bees, after the UK originally opposed the ban put forward by the European Commission in 2013. The ban was initially proposed on three neonicotinoids on flowering crops because of the threat to bee health, and has now been extended on their use outside of greenhouse to include non-flowering crops such as wheat and sugar beet.

Mr Gove added: “Not to act would be to risk continuing down a course which could have extensive and permanent effects on bee populations. That is not a risk I am prepared to take, so the UK will be supporting further restrictions on neonicotinoids. Unless the evidence base changes again, the government will keep these restrictions in place after we have left the EU.”

According to ‘How Neonicotinoids Can Kill Bees’, some of the resulting products after the insecticides are broken down can be even more toxic to bees than the original chemical. The pesticides are absorbed by plants and broken down over time, meaning they can be present in pollen and nectar, which are then ingested by bees and other pollinators.

Neonicotinoids affect different varieties of bees in different ways depending on the variety: honeybees can experience problems with flight and navigation, reduced taste sensitivity and slower learning of new tasks, all which impact their foraging ability and hive productivity, whereas exposing bumblebees to neonicotinoids can result in reduced food consumption, reproduction, worker survival rates, colony survival and foraging activity. Fewer colonies can also be established the following year due to a lower production of queens.

Effects on solitary bees vary depending on the species, ranging from increased deaths to larvae needing more time to mature.

A representative from Oldham and District Beekeepers' Association said: “As beekeepers, we are happy that the government is backing the EU initiative to ban neonics.

“However as mainly urban beekeepers, we are more concerned about the insecticides used by nurseries or supermarkets who sell plants. Reports indicate that these firms use neonics as ‘seed dressing’ on plants sold for garden use, and at present, only follow a voluntary ban on their use.”

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