EU nations have been unable to reach agreement on proposals to ban the use of three pesticides that have been linked to the decline of bees.
The European Commission had called for a two-year EU-wide moratorium, but a number of nations opposed the plans.
A recent report by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) concluded that the pesticides posed a "high acute risk" to pollinators, including honeybees.
The commission is expected to redraft its proposals ahead of another vote.
Member states were unable to reach a qualified majority in order for the proposals to be adopted.
The news of the stalemate has angered groups that had been campaigning in favour of the ban.
Legal advice
Avaaz condemned the UK's and Germany's decision to abstain, saying the governments had "caved in to the industry lobby".
"Today's vote flies in the face of science and public opinion and maintains the disastrous chemical armageddon on bees, which are critical for the future of our food," said Avaaz senior campaigner Iain Keith.
In a YouGov poll commissioned by the campaign network, 71% of almost 2,000 people questioned in the UK supported the commission's proposals to impose the moratorium on the insecticides.
Avaaz said that it, along with other groups, would be taking legal advice as to whether the outcome of the vote could in challenged in the courts.
The chemicals in question - imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianindin - belong to a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids.
The insecticides work by affecting the central nervous system of insects, causing paralysis and death.
"There is certainly fairly convincing evidence that they pose a significant threat to bees," ecologist Prof David Goulson from the University of Stirling told the BBC's Farming Today programme.
"Essentially, the problem is because [the chemicals] travel to all parts of the plant, the chemicals get into the pollen and nectar, then pollinators, such as bumblebees, consume them," he explained.
"The amounts they consume is quite small because the concentrations in pollen and nectar are very low, but then they are very toxic chemicals."
A report published by EFSA scientists in January identified a number of risks posed by the three insecticides.
It assessed the possible threats to the pollinators from exposure to residues in pollen and nectar, dust and guttation fluid (some plants exude sap in the form of droplets).
However, it added that in some cases it was "unable to finalise the assessments due to shortcomings in the available data".
'Open mind'A number of EU countries, including Italy, had imposed a ban on the use of the chemicals at a national level but others, including the UK, were against the commission's calls for a two-year EU-wide ban.
Speaking in the House of Lords on Wednesday, UK Environment Minister Lord de Mauley said the government was approaching the issue with an "open mind".
"We are, indeed, doing further analysis on fieldwork we have had carried out specifically to address this issue because it is vital that what we do is proportionate and based on the science," he told peers.
"As to whether there is an effect on the honey harvest, it is difficult to say because we do not have categoric evidence that there is an unacceptable level of harm to bees."
Friends of the Earth's head of campaigns Andrew Pendleton said that there was "more than enough evidence that these chemicals are linked to bee decline to place immediate restrictions on their use".
"This is a cop-out by a significant number of European governments, including the UK - it means yet more dither and delay while our bee populations plummet," he added.
Following the vote, it was said that EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg would "consider the next step".
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21793365#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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