Dear sir,
Our Bees once again need our help! For the third year in a row, the UK government has authorised the use of a normally banned bee-killing pesticide on sugar beet crops in England.
This decision ignores the advice of the Government’s own pesticide experts, and undermines legally-binding commitments to restore nature in the Environment Act. It also goes against the Government’s COP15 Biodiversity pledge to halve the environmental harms of pesticides by 2030. It completely undermines the whole process of COP15 and reduces it to nothing more than a tick box exercise.
These pesticides have previously been banned for a reason and continue to be banned in the EU. These pesticides, called neonics, pose a significant environmental risk – particularly to our bees and other pollinators. Insects perform vital roles such as pollination of crops and wildflowers, yet so many insect populations have suffered drastic declines.
So we must ask ourselves why would our government take such a risk? Just one 1 teaspoon of thiamethoxam can kill 1.25 billion bees. The manufacturer ( Bayer) claims the chemical is not an issue due to the sugar beet seeds being coated in the chemical and the plant being harvested before the point of flowering, which in turn should avoid damaging the pollinators. However, our Wildlife Trusts have highlighted that the problem arises where the chemical is released into the soil, which can then in turn leach into the water table, which leads to its release into the entire ecosystem. The use of these pesticides are also a factor in the degradation of soils, we now have 24% of the worlds soils degraded beyond the point of use. A huge problem when we think in terms of growing crops.
There has in fact been a 50 fold increase in the production of such chemicals since 1950. Many have unknown consequences to the environment as they degrade and release further potent chemicals into our soil, waterways and environment. And over the same period we have experienced a decline of pollinator insects of at least 70%.
All of this seems completely at odds with the government plan of committing to protect at least 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 (its 30x30 target). Unfortunately, it seems like another tick box commitment that has been produced with no real action.