France has been leading the way in Europe by banning pesticides that are harmful to bees. In late 2019 it banned two US products after a court in Nice judged in favour of ecology groups that had brought a case against American company Dow AgroSciences. The court ruled that an ingredient in the pesticide – sulfoxaflor, which kills greenfly – is likely also toxic to pollinators.
The case followed the banning of two other pesticides in 2017, and the latest ruling dismissed a claim by Dow that practices such as not using the products during the flowering season would protect bees from harm. One of the groups that brought the case, Generations Futures, has described such products as potentially “disastrous for biodiversity or human health”.
In 2018, France became the first country in Europe to ban all five pesticides on the market at that time deemed harmful to bees because they contain neonicotinoids, which attach to the insects’ neurotransmitter receptors and are believed by some researchers to be addictive to the pollinators.
According to the UN, around 75% of the world’s crops rely in part or wholly on bees, and the decline in the species’ populations, known as colony collapse disorder, has led to increased calls for harmful products to be banned, despite strong opposition from farmers who have grown to depend on pesticides to protect their produce.
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France has been leading the way in Europe by banning pesticides that are harmful to bees. In late 2019 it banned two US products after a court in Nice judged in favour of ecology groups that had brought a case against American company Dow AgroSciences. The court ruled that an ingredient in the pesticide – sulfoxaflor, which kills greenfly – is likely also toxic to pollinators.
The case followed the banning of two other pesticides in 2017, and the latest ruling dismissed a claim by Dow that practices such as not using the products during the flowering season would protect bees from harm. One of the groups that brought the case, Generations Futures, has described such products as potentially “disastrous for biodiversity or human health”.
In 2018, France became the first country in Europe to ban all five pesticides on the market at that time deemed harmful to bees because they contain neonicotinoids, which attach to the insects’ neurotransmitter receptors and are believed by some researchers to be addictive to the pollinators.
According to the UN, around 75% of the world’s crops rely in part or wholly on bees, and the decline in the species’ populations, known as colony collapse disorder, has led to increased calls for harmful products to be banned, despite strong opposition from farmers who have grown to depend on pesticides to protect their produce.