Who’s really anti‑science?
July 17, 2017
From: Spiked
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On the pesticide front, anti-science claims by publicly funded NGOs have routinely tipped the UK and the EU against innovation and established research. The chemical and weed-killer glyphosate has come under fire from various NGOs for its apparent connection to carcinogens, despite definitive statements from the European Food Safety Authority and 27 out of 28 member states which argue the opposite. ‘If political actors discredit scientific organisations because they don’t like the outcome in one out of 100 cases, they diminish the reputation of an organisation that they as policymakers will need to rely on in future’, said Bernhard Url, executive director of the European Food Safety Authority.
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A peer-reviewed study published in June in the journal Science found that use of neonicotinoid pesticides actually increased the bee populations in various field experiments. The researchers were from the Natural Environment Research Council in Oxfordshire and a host of German universities. They recognised the benefit these pesticides can produce. ‘Don’t give up on neonicotinoids’, wrote lead researcher Ben Woodcock. ‘Neonicotinoids do have a vital role to play in food production… They can be used in low dosages, reducing the need for broad-spectrum insecticide sprays. They are also useful in controlling pests which have already developed some resistance to other pesticides.’
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