To: DEFRA (UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Immediately withdraw all pesticides linked with the collapse of UK bee colonies and ecosystems
Dear DEFRA
We demand that you: -
(1) Immediately suspend the use and sale of all those neonicotinoid pesticides that evidence suggests are linked to Honey Bee Colony Collapse disorder in the UK (and around the world), pending satisfactory evidence that they DO NOT play a role in the alarming decline of bee populations in recent years. Considering the critical role bees play in the UK’s natural and agricultural systems, a failure to act can only be regarded as socioenvironmental irresponsibility of the most dangerous kind.
(2) Henceforward, introduce the 'Precautionary Principle' into the regulation of UK pesticides. In other words, it should be the legal obligation of a pesticide manufacturer to present evidence which, to the satisfaction of an independent panel of public and experts, demonstrates that their product will have a zero negative impact upon our ecosystems BEFORE it is released. It should NEVER be up to the public and independent scientific groups to prove the toxicity of such chemicals AFTER they have been spread across our land.
Why is this important?
(1) BEES ARE VANISHING FAST! Over the past few years one in three bee colonies has gone from the UK, and worldwide there has been a massive drop in numbers. We could be heading towards a global disappearance of bees. The mass decline corresponds closely to the release of a group of insecticides called neonicotinoids:
http://www.soilassociation.org/wildlife/bees?gclid=CNSJosP50LICFSTKtAodRwwAMQ
(2) BEES ARE ESSENTIAL TO THE UK ECOSYSTEM AND FOOD SUPPLY. A UK without the buzzing of summer gardens and meadows is a terrible thought, but the idea of losing our most important pollinators is truly chilling. Without bees, fruit trees and many other flowering plants could no longer reproduce naturally and would die out. One in every three bites of food in the UK is the result of bee pollination. The loss of such an integral player in our natural cycles is likely to result in unpredictable and far-reaching negative repercussions, and may risk a total collapse of our native ecosystems and food supply.
(2) STRONG EVIDENCE LINKS CERTAIN INSECTICIDES TO BEE DISAPPEARANCES. There is a growing body of scientific and anecdotal evidence linking neonicotinoid pesticides to Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder. This evidence has been deemed sufficiently potent by German, French and Italian Governments to ban the use of neonicotinoids, and for many pressure groups, including Friends of the Earth, to push for their worldwide suspension pending a satisfactory assessment of their impacts.
For a highly watchable overview of the evidence check out: http://youtu.be/oVuFvxjBbig
(3) WHILST OTHER EU GOVERNMENTS HAVE IMPOSED BANS IN RESPONSE TO THIS EVIDENCE, OURS HAS DISMISSED IT AS INCONCLUSIVE! Astonishingly, in a report last week DEFRA dismissed this body of evidence outright, stating that there would be no ban until 'unequivocal evidence' was presented that neonicotinoids WERE harmful to bees:
DEFRA's priorities are unnervingly back-to-front. It is plainly obvious that to dismiss ANY evidence, however small, which links an operational pesticide to the potential for the collapse of natural / agricultural systems is completely insane. DEFRA need to be made to realise that the people of the UK value bees and long-term environmental integrity above a minor economic / agricultural inconvenience, and that we demand their decision reversed with immediate effect. We also call for DEFRA to implement clear policy that ensures the burden-of-proof of the harmlessness of new pesticides to our native ecology rests upon the manufacturer prior to release, and not upon the public and independent bodies whilst they are already in use. The vital importance of these issues cannot be overstated.
For more detailed information about this issue and for other things you can do to help, please check out: http://bees.pan-uk.org/what-can-you-do
