Neonicotinoid Restrictions Present a Unique Opportunity to Introduce Safer Agro-Ecological Approaches to Pest Management. (1st August 2013) - Mole, Nick
Restrictions on the use of certain types and uses of neonicotinoid pesticides introduced by the European Union represent a unique opportunity to introduce safer agro-ecological approaches to pest management. Many of the arguments deployed in opposition to these restrictions were misleading, and based upon flawed research, much of it funded by neonicotinoid manufacturers themselves. The two principal arguments against restricting neonicotinoids were that yields would suffer, and that farmers would resort to older, even more harmful chemicals. However, evidence from Italy, where neonicotinoids have been banned from use on maize since 2008, suggests the opposite. Moreover, the EU precautionary approach on neonicotinoids represents a potential turning point for acting more widely to replace highly hazardous chemical pesticides with effective and sustainable alternatives. To achieve this, collaborative effort is needed on the part of governments, industry, civil society organisations, retailers and others. The Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK) welcomes the recent decision by the European Commission (EC) to place a temporary suspension on some uses of the three neonicotinoid pesticides, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin. We believe that the steps taken by the Commission are a measured and reasonable response to the conclusions on the unacceptable risks posed to wild pollinators as identified in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reports on these actives (EFSA, 2013). The new measures introduced in April by the EC, following much discussion and debate, mean that these three actives can no longer be used as seed treatments on any flowering crop that is attractive to bees. This is for a provisional period of two years starting in December 2013, to allow Member States to assess the impact, positive or negative, this will have on bee populations. PAN UK recognises that neonicotinoids, and indeed other pesticides, are not the only threats facing wild pollinators. Other pressures, including access to forage, disease and parasites, have all been implicated in the alarming declines in pollinator populations witnessed in recent years. Nevertheless, the European restrictions provide a small window of opportunity in which it should be possible, given the correct incentives and support from a range of stakeholders, to adopt more holistic agro-ecological approaches to pest management in the crops that are affected by the temporary restrictions. PAN UK welcomes the EU temporary suspension of three neonicotinoid pesticides as a step in the right direction in protecting bees. We believe that this presents a unique opportunity to introduce safer, ecologically informed methods of pest management. The experience in Italy has shown that is not an unrealistic aspiration. Moreover, the EU restrictions also present the possibility of a turning point more generally on the use of highly hazardous toxic pesticides, in favour of non-chemical and IPM pest control methods. What is needed now is the political will of governments around the world to take action to promote these alternatives.