EU Food Safety Authority says pesticides contribute to killing bees

Bee Swarm, Photo: pixabay.com

A new study from the EU Food Safety Authority confirmed that nicotine-like pesticides threaten a variety of bees.

 

The EU body came to the same conclusion five years ago, but then the study was rejected as having little credibility by companies producing the current pesticides.

On Wednesday, the EU Food Safety Authority (EFSA) presented a new study confirming that most pesticides of this kind pose a risk to wild bees, and honey bees.

“All in all, we have confirmed that they pose a risk to the three types of bees we have considered,” said EFSA expert, José Tarazona.

The three bees are hummer, lone bees, and honey bees.

So-called ‘neonototinoids’ have been linked to a sharp decline in the number of bees worldwide, which has led to serious concern for future food production,as bees play an important role in pollination of many types of crops.

EFSA’s study comprises three types of ‘neonicotinoids’’: ‘klothianidine’, ‘imidacloprid’, and ‘thiamethoxam’. Following the findings in 2013, the EU has introduced severe restrictions on these.

EFSA’s latest findings will now be forwarded to the EU Commission and EU countries,which will decide whether to introduce even more stringent restrictions on the use of the pesticides in question.

Plant protection products are manufactured by Bayer and Syngenta, and Monsanto among others. Five years ago, they rejected the EFSA’s findings because they believed they were poorly supported.

 

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