Neonicotinoids return
The Wildlife Trusts is threatening the Government with legal action over its decision to authorise the temporary emergency use of the neonicotinoid pesticide thiamethoxam on sugar beet this year, aimed at preventing crop losses from an aphid-borne virus. Due to the harm they do to pollinators, thiamethoxam, and two other neonicotinoids, have been banned in the EU since 2018. The Government had pledged to continue the ban post-Brexit, but now says the threat of losing up to a quarter of the year’s sugar-beet crop justifies their “exceptional” use, “tightly controlled” to minimise risk to pollinators.
Environmental campaigners, including Greta Thunberg, have condemned the move. The Wildlife Trusts has written to Environment Secretary Geroge Eustice, saying it will push for a judicial review, unless the Government “can prove it acted lawfully”. Director of Public Affairs, Joan Edwards, warned of devastating side effects, such as hedgerow and river pollution: “We will not achieve our goals on sustainable development, climate change, or preventing pandemics, if we fail to take care of the natural world”, while the Pesticides Action Network said it had set an “unwanted precedent”.
Neonicotinoids are systemic pesticides that are transported around a plant’s system to make all parts toxic to insects. Though most have been banned or phased out since 2018, one neonicotinoid considered less harmful to bees, acetamiprid, is still approved for use on plants and pesticide sprays sold to gardeners.
Many leading garden centres including Blue Diamond and Hillier Nurseries have taken steps to reduce neonicotinoid use; DIY retailer B&Q has eliminated them from its supply chain, saying all the flowering plants it sells are now “neonicotinoidfree”. Simon Davenport, Secretary of the British Protected Ornamentals Association, says growers are increasingly turning to natural pesticides. “Some growers have stopped using neonics entirely in response to consumer request, and some have retained them where there are no good alternatives.”
Professor Dave Goulson, founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, urges gardeners to buy plants from organic nurseries to be sure they are pesticide-free. But, he says, there’s no need to worry about plants you’ve already bought: “If there are pesticides in there they will slowly go away,” he says.
The threat justifies their exceptional use