The Bee Coalition Holds a Press Briefing on Neonicotinoids

Today, the Bee Coalition has held a press conference at Greenpeace's office in Brussels, with a panel formed by experts in the field coming from different organisations. Since representatives of EU governments will meet to consider an EU-wide ban on three neonicotinoid pesticides on 22-23 March, beekeepers, scientists and NGOs explained why the EU should waste no more time before banning these bee-harming chemicals.

The urgency of the ban is more than justified, particularly now that the European Food Safety Authority has recently published an evaluation that confirms that three neonicotinoid pesticides – imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam – harm all bees, even when used on crops that bees do not forage on, like cereals and sugar beet. The European Commission said last year that it wants to extend an existing partial ban on these three pesticides.