UK environment secretary Owen Paterson has been called upon by a cross-party committee of MPs to suspend the use of pesticides linked to a decline in bee populations.
In a damning report, parliament's green watchdog, the environmental audit committee (EAC), described the UK's environment department as 'complacent' and accused the government of relying on studies that were 'fundamentally flawed', according to the Guardian.
Of the government's argument that a 'major new field study' was needed and that a ban at present would be a 'knee-jerk' reaction, EAC chair Joan Walley pointed out that neonicotinoids had been in use for 20 years. 'You can't wait forever for proof,' she said.
The UK's Soil Association welcomed the EAC report, stating that it was time Patterson 'stood up for the bees, not the chemical companies'. It also highlighted the positive experience of Italian farmers following a ban on neonicotinoids.
The EAC report comes at a time when the UK, in addition to Germany, is blocking a European commission proposal for a ban, in opposition to France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.
Chemical companies Syngenta and Bayer, which recently launched a new 'action plan' to monitor the health of pollinators including bees, criticised the report, positing that calling for a ban was the easy option.
'The long-term, real world, scientific reality is that a ban wouldn't save a single hive,' a spokesperson from Syngenta stated. 'The decline in bee health is one of the biggest challenges facing agriculture and Syngenta remains committed to fully understanding and improving bee health.'
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