beekeeping issues
Britain and Germany stood alone in trying to dissuade the EU from banning these insecticides from European farms . So , what do these chemicals do and doesn ’ t this rejuvenate the debate about organics ?
The good
Neonicotinoid insecticides have been in general use for over ten years . Based on the nicotine molecule this series of compounds are less toxic to mammals than previous organochlorine insecticides . They work by blocking the neurone pathway inside the insect by binding to neuro-receptors . A build up of acetylcholine in the insect paralyses and kills it .
These chemicals have become the most used insecticides in the world , being used in buildings to stop termite damage , crops , injection into trees , for treating seeds , general garden use and as a delousing agent for family pets . Since they do not appreciably attach themselves to mammalian neuro-receptors , they are hardly toxic at all to humans or other mammals .
The ban
A call for a ban is long in the tooth . Since 2006 serious decline in wild bee and honey bees has been documented , some three years after the widespread use of neonicotinoid insecticides . It has to be said that the calls for a ban was not initially based on scientific evidence , because it wasn ’ t there .
Whereas these chemicals affect insects exclusively , we have not yet found any research to say these insecticides do not affect bees , and it is possibly a safe assumption to suggest that bees are just as susceptible as any other insect . Indeed , it is suggested in some areas that the research was not completely finished , and that reliance on chemical company data by regulatory
Beekeeping and beautiful gardens go together
bodies was suspect . For example , the Conclusion On Pesticide Peer Review , a scientific study ordered by the European Food Safety Authority concluded :
Several data gaps were identified with regard to the risk to honey bees from exposure via dust , from consumption of contaminated nectar and pollen , and from exposure via guttation fluid for the authorised uses as seed treatment and granules . Furthermore , the risk assessment for pollinators other than honey bees , the risk assessment following exposure to insect honey dew and the risk assessment from exposure to succeeding crops could not be finalised on the basis of the available information . A high risk was indicated or could not be excluded in relation to certain aspects of the risk assessment for honey bees for some of the authorised uses . For some exposure routes it was possible to identify a low risk for some of the authorised uses .
In other words , it is possible to say that there is no scientific data to suggest that neonicotinoid insecticides actually harm bees . This has been the main line the UK and German governments have been using in trying to influence a ban . One would be forgiven for thinking this position is arrived at because the data simply has been omitted , left out or not even tested at all .
Germany and the UK continued to fight against a ban , abstaining in the first vote in March , but on appeal and another vote , neonicotinoids will be banned from 1st December this year .
Or will they ?
Actually , the ban is quite specific . The restriction will prevent the use of three neonicotinoid products - clothianidin , imidacloprid and thiametoxam - in seed treatment , soil application ( granules ) and foliar treatment on plants and cereals ( with the exception of winter cereals ) that are attractive to bees .