EU: Bee killing pesticide banned starting December

The Commission moves straight ahead: We will press on even without a qualifying majority
Stop on the 3 most toxic neuro-active nicotine agents, products from the German Bayer and the Swiss Syngenta companies

In spite of a second, inconclusive vote from the member states, on monday in Brussels the European Commission has however adopted its proposal to ban the use of 3 types of neuro-active nicotine agents on the majority of cultivation in the EU for 2 years; these pesticides under which a series of scientific opinions verified to be the cause of the bee disease phenomenon and other pollinating insects in Europe. The European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Tonio Borg, announced it with a press release immediately after the vote, highlighting that the proposal had in any case had the support of the majority of the member countries, even if the qualifying majority (according to the system considered in force in the EU Council) that was requested to approve(or to push) the ban was not reached. The procedure now foresees that the Commission must adopt the measure without other passages in front of member state representatives. “Since our proposal was based on health risks identified by the European Authority for Food Safety, the Commission will go ahead with this text,” adopting the ban “in the next few weeks,” explained Borg, highlighting that he will do “everything possible to ensure that our bees are protected because they have such a vital role in our eco-system and provide a contribution to European agriculture equal to 22 billion Euro a year.”

The ban, for now limited to 2 years but with the possibility to extend, will go into effect in December and will cover the 3 most toxic neuro-active nicotine based insecticides: those produced by the German company Bayer and the Swiss company Syngenta and containing Clothianidin, Thiamethoxam e Imidacloprid (which is actually the most widely used insecticide in the world) as active ingredients. These pesticides will be banned for all plants (including fruit trees) and cultivations that attract bees the most, and particularly for corn, rapeseed, sunflowers and cotton before flowering and in all applications: the ‘preserving’ (covering) of the seed, powder for the ground and sprays to treat leaves. On the other hand, they will still be allowed for all cultivation in open fields only after flowering and for crops such as winter cereals that seem not to have an affect on the bees and for greenhouse crops.

In the first vote of the EU committee on Food Chain Regulation on March 15th, 13 member states voted in favor of the proposal, nine against and 5 abstained. In the ‘Appeal Committee’ yesterday there were 15 countries in favor: Poland, Spain, Holland, Slovenia, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Malta, France, Sweden, Lithuania, Cyprus, plus Germany, Bulgaria and Estonia, who previously abstained; 8 countries against: Portugal, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ireland, Hungary, Austria plus the UK which abstained on March 15th and Italy which on that occasion was in favor; 4 abstaining: Greece, Ireland, and Lithuania, which previously voted against and Finland which confirmed its position. Italy voted against the ban because its request to allow leaf application of the neuro-active nicotine based insecticides on fruit trees even before flowering and not only after was not accepted.

Lorenzo Consoli for TmNews

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