Buglife welcomes Syngenta’s withdrawal of neonic ban bust application

Following a week of intense public activity in defence of our bees and pollinators, including demonstrations outside Downing Street, public petitions and letters to ministers, Syngenta have withdrawn their application to Defra to permit them to sell enough neonicotinoid treated oil seed rape seed to plant 186,000 Ha of toxic crops across England.

Buglife and other NGO’s were alarmed by this cynical attempt to exploit the fears of farmers and the weakness of the UK government on the issue. Had it been approved the ban would have undermined the science based EC decision to ban neonicotinoids from flowering crops in 2013 and 2014; a measure carefully formulated to reduce the exposure of bees and pollinators to these toxins. NGO’s opposing lifting the ban were publicly backed up by the Labour Party and Green Party.

In withdrawing their application Syngenta explained that "There has been insufficient time to conclude on the conditions for verifying and auditing planting locations which were specific to this limited use application.”

Click here to read the complete article at buglife.org.uk