Govt denies emergency authorisation of bee-harming pesticide

Responding to the news that the government has denied the application for the emergency authorisation of the banned neonicotinoid pesticide, Cruiser SB, for 2025, Paul De Zylva, nature campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said:

"At last, the government has put a stop to the yearly rigmarole of the pesticide lobby pushing for the use of bee-harming pesticides on sugar beet. This decision ends the industry’s four-year streak in undermining the supposed ban on the use of toxic neonicotinoids.

“But the government needs to go further still by closing this blatant loophole once and for all, which has enabled its continued use under the pretence of being deployed only in exceptional circumstances.

"Ministers must also overhaul the weak national plan for reducing pesticides by coming up with a new, credible strategy to cut their use and harmful impacts. Any plan must also support farmers to grow their produce in a way that works with, and not against, nature.”

ENDS