EU ban to help some bees
Member states vote in favour of neonicotinoid ban.
The EU has voted to ban, by the end of the year, the outdoor use of three neonicotinoid pesticides implicated in bee declines.
Professor Mark Brown of Royal Holloway University of London says it’s clear that these neurotoxins have negative effects on individual bees and colonies. Less certain is whether the ban will reverse the declines, when other factors, such as disease and climate, are also at play.
The case is strongest for bumblebees and solitary bees, says Brown. “The evidence that neonicotinoids have anything to do with honeybee problems is much more limited.”
Neither is it clear how farmers will respond. “This might involve changing crops, or using other – better or worse – pesticides,” says Brown.