Editor’s Note: The EU’s ban on neonicotinoids is not scientifically based. See, EFSA Neonicotinoid Statement: Unfit for Government Use and Paying the Price for the EU’s Disastrous Ban on Neonics. Also see the USDA/Foreign Agricultural Service Report on the EU’s further restrictions on neonicotinoids. The USDA/FAS Report states, “The only basis for the proposed restrictions is EFSA’s risk assessment, which is based on a currently unapproved Bee Guidance Document. This theoretical guidance on how to conduct the risk assessment of the impact of Plant Protection Products on bees is not supported by many EU Member States.”
From: EU Reporter
December 6, 2017
From: Alberta Farmer Express
Pesticide rules hurting farmers, says consultant
Producers north of the border have access to fewer modes of action and active ingredients
By Jennifer Blair
***
He pointed to wheat and barley, saying Canadian farmers have access to five modes of action and 10 different active ingredients, while U.S. farmers have seven modes of action and 15 different active ingredients. In dry beans, there are 12 different modes of action and 34 active ingredients in the U.S. versus five and 10 respectively.
December 5, 2017
December 4, 2017
From: Horticulture Week
Fern grower makes neonicotinoid plea
Bob Hollister of specialist fern growers Country Garden Plant Sales has made a plea to for the continued use of neonicotinoids on non-flowering plants.
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Hollister fears that a blanket ban on the incorporation of neonicotinoids into growing media will cause unnecessary problems for many ‘non flowering’ plant producers. Conifers, ferns and grasses can all be susceptible to vine weevil, which has been safely treated with neonicotinoids for decades.
December 1, 2017
Editor’s Note: Regulatory policies based on a panic-first, verify-later basis, i.e., the precautionary principle, ignore science and the public interest. See, The Precautionary Principle: An Affront to Science.
From: FarmingUK
Fipronil crisis: Egg poison test results may have been wrong, analysis says
Some of the eggs found to have been contaminated during the recent fipronil crisis may have been clear of the chemical, new analysis has found.
The revelation that some test results may have been wrong comes in a European Commission report following an assessment of the performance of labs involved in the fipronil testing.
November 29, 2017
Editor’s Note: For information about non-science based campaign to ban neonics based on the substances’ purported effects on songbirds, see here, here, and here.
From: The Guardian
The experimental study is the first to directly show harm to songbirds, extending the known impacts of neonicotinoids beyond insects
Damian Carrington
The world’s most widely used insecticide may cause migrating songbirds to lose their sense of direction and suffer drastic weight loss, according to new research.
Read Complete Article
November 29, 2017
From: Spalding Today
Will Gove be good for farmers?
Farmer RICHARD BARLOW considers the future for farmers post-Brexit
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Michael Gove, is obviously an intelligent and ambitious Secretary of State, responsible for the environment, food and rural affairs. Whether he will be good for farming is yet to be seen. The correct decisions are not always the most popular, but will his pursuit of higher office mean he takes the populist route too often?
November 28, 2017
From: Horticulture Week
RHS considers withdrawing Perfect for Pollinators
by Matthew Appleby
The RHS is considering the future of its Perfect for Pollinators logo and whether it should withdraw it from the market since it cannot “police” how plants are grown.
The move follows the publication of a study from University of Sussex’s Professor Dave Goulson earlier this year which claimed to have found ‘bee-friendly’ plants for sale with traces of one of the three neonicotinoid-based insecticide products banned by the EU (imidacloprid, thiamethoxam or clothianidin).
Read Complete Article
November 27, 2017
Editor’s Note: The Democratic Unionist Party provides critical support for Prime Minister May’s government.
From: UK House of Commons
Early day motion 590
NEONICOTINOIDS
- Session: 2017-19
- Date tabled: 23.11.2017
- Primary sponsor:
- Sponsors:
That this House welcomes the Government’s commitment to uphold the complete ban on neonicotinoid pesticides; and urges the Government to undertake to rebuild the habitats that enable the bee population to flourish and by extension our crops and countryside to thrive.
November 24, 2017
Editor’s Note: Anti-neonic activists will not stop with banning neonicotinoids, they want to ban much of modern agriculture, see here.
From: Molly Scott Cato, Green MEP for the South West
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Many environmentalists have been astonished by the public posture of Michael Gove since he took over at DEFRA. In the few months he has been environment secretary, he has offered us small but juicy tidbits like a bottle deposit scheme or a public attack on the ivory trade. And last week he pulled out his trump card: a ban on bee-killing neonicotinoid insecticides.
November 22, 2017
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