UK should ban bee-killing pesticides, company bosses tell government |

EXCLUSIVE: 'We need to listen to the scientists. “Excessive use of pesticides is destroying our bees,” company leaders said in a letter to the minister

Experts say one teaspoon of neonicotinoid is enough for 1.25 billion bees. Photo: Nick Ansel/PA

Helena Horton, Environment Correspondent, “The Guardian”

The UK government must stop ignoring science and stop using pesticides that kill bees, business leaders have said.

The neonicotinoid insecticide Cruiser SB is used on sugar beets and is highly toxic to bees. It is banned in the EU, but the UK has temporarily agreed to it Emergency use every year Since leaving the block. In 2017, The then environment secretary, Michael Gove, promised to use Brexit Ban all neonicotinoids.

Scientific Advisers to Govt Said In September, they could not support approval for the Cruiser SB because “the potential adverse effects to bees and other pollinators would outweigh the potential benefits.”

Now, some companies that depend on pollinators, including some farmers and those who use botanicals in their products, have said that the government should follow their advice and not allow the use of pesticides that kill bees.

In a letter to Mark Spencer, Agriculture Minister Annabel Kindersley, Neil's Yard Remedies chief executive Tim Mead, Yeo Valley boss and the boards of Lush and The Body Shop asked him to stop using Cruiser SP.

“We need to listen to the scientists. Excessive pesticide use is killing our bees and other essential insect species we depend on for a healthy, safe and clean environment,” they wrote.

“One teaspoon of neonicotinoid is enough to deliver a fatal dose to 1.25 billion bees. A third of the UK's bee population has disappeared in the last decade, and the UK has lost 13 of its 35 native bee species since 1900.

“Many UK companies rely on healthy pollinator populations to maintain the high quality of our products. We need sustainable farming practices that don't harm our environment.”

Sugar beet contains one sugar Higher profit margins Any crop grown in the UK, but producers fear it could be affected by aphid-borne yellows virus, which could reduce agricultural production.

Treat the seeds with Cruiser SP, which kills aphids. However, the pesticide is soil-borne, meaning any wildflowers growing in it are toxic to bees visiting for pollination.

Farm unions and sugar beet farmers are lobbying the government to allow the Cruiser SB to be used next year, and it is hoped that ministers will approve its emergency use.

Kindersley said: “Bees and other important pollinators are being threatened by making sugar a little cheaper. By acting against the advice of its own scientific advisers, we believe the Government is putting the UK's well-deserved reputation for environmental leadership at risk.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “We have an application to use the Creuzer sp neonicotinoid product on the 2024 sugar beet crop which is now being assessed.”