Scrutable

“The approval to use this bee-killing pesticide is scandalous,” said Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts. “The government has outlined ambitions to restore nature and reverse declines of precious wildlife. But at the same time it is giving a green light to use a highly toxic chemical that could harm pollinating insects and pollute soils and rivers.”

“We need to restore the natural world and gradually wean ourselves off using chemicals in agriculture,” he said. “It’s time the government listened to their own experts who have said they cannot support the use of this pesticide as it’s simply too dangerous.”

Fishnut wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 9:41 pm The UK government has given an 'emergency exemption' to the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam following an application by British Sugar to use it on sugar beet. The Guardian reports that it's to control aphids which spread virus yellows, a disease that affects sugar beet and a range of weeds. Environmental groups are not happy.

“The approval to use this bee-killing pesticide is scandalous,” said Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts. “The government has outlined ambitions to restore nature and reverse declines of precious wildlife. But at the same time it is giving a green light to use a highly toxic chemical that could harm pollinating insects and pollute soils and rivers.”

“We need to restore the natural world and gradually wean ourselves off using chemicals in agriculture,” he said. “It’s time the government listened to their own experts who have said they cannot support the use of this pesticide as it’s simply too dangerous.”

tom p wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:20 pm Shouldn't this go in the brexit benefits thread. Taking back control: blue passports & dead bees. It's what they voted for.

Martin Y wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 5:12 pm

tom p wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:20 pm Shouldn't this go in the brexit benefits thread. Taking back control: blue passports & dead bees. It's what they voted for.

It if was only the UK then yes, but I understood a group of EU countries got the same exemption for the same reason.

The United Kingdom exported thousands of tonnes of banned pesticides in 2020, with shipments including a wider range of toxic substances than ever previously revealed, a new Unearthed and Public Eye investigation has found.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which regulates UK exports of prohibited chemicals, has confirmed that in that year British exporters shipped pesticide products overseas containing 12,240 tonnes of chemicals banned from use in this country’s own fields...

The UK exported seven different agrochemicals in 2020 the use of which is banned in UK agriculture – the weedkillers paraquat, diquat, and asulam, the insecticides imidacloprid and cyhalothrin, and the fungicides chlorothalonil and propiconazole;