It is like in France, there shouldn't be that much of an issue.
Iirc, the use of use of neonicotinoid on beet is with coated seeds. Then, the beets are harvested way before they even produce a flower thus the bees will not pollinate such infected plants.
Pesticide believed to kill bees is authorised for use in England
51–60 of 138 posts
Re: Pesticide believed to kill bees is authorised for use in England
#52I’m not really sure yet how I feel about this particular case of temporary emergency authorization (which is omitted from the title). I get the chemicals were banned for good reason, but in this case they are trying to prevent a whole commodity sector from collapsing. Tough situation to be in. The larger issue to me is how warped the debate around saving bees and pollinators has become. I get very frustrated every ti…
I see your position, and I agree that the problem is more complex than just pesticides are bad, but it's also more complex than saving sugar beets. If this were an invasive species (like murder hornets or malarial mosquitos) problem that could be stopped before it started or a temporary measure to prevent life and death (rather than wealth accumulation) for a significant number of people, I'd have more sympathy. Appl…
But what percentage of UK land is used for growing sugar beet? It must be a small fraction. How many bees are actually going to be in the vicinity of this? I can't see it being a large amount.
Regarding "we can just import it", well yes, but if everyone took that opinion then there wouldn't be any farming anywhere eventually.
Re: Pesticide believed to kill bees is authorised for use in England
#53This is also a consequence of Brexit and the UK aligning with the USA corporate interests.
That's what the headline is trying to imply; yet, the article makes it clear that other EU countries have equally granted emergency authorisations, within EU provisions for doing so.
Re: Pesticide believed to kill bees is authorised for use in England
#54Why can't they use a non neonicotinoid pesticide instead?
Re: Pesticide believed to kill bees is authorised for use in England
#55A society of advanced apes with a penchant for destroying their environment decides that a species that is necessary for their survival is better off dead because they don't care for a weird thing called science.
We'd rather have cheap sweet things than expensive sweet things. Then we'll come up with a cheap solution for the consequences that causes even more problems, and on and on. It seems like most of the problems we have as a society are because we choose expedient solutions rather than careful solutions to problems.
This approach appears to work since we thrive as a species.
Re: Pesticide believed to kill bees is authorised for use in England
#56The article title purposefully leaves out the "emergency use authorization" part in order to drum up anger. I think that part should be put in. 11 other countries have joined in the emergency authorization so its not just a UK thing. This is not a pro/against post about Thiamethoxam. The studies seem a bit divided, and the UK banned out of abundance of caution from a European Food Safety Authority study, versus a lar…
I saw the title and immediately thought "is this gonna be BS". Turns out yes.
Reading https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2903/j.efsa.... and https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/114256v1.full.pdf (for instance - & many more) doesn't suggest BS to me but others can make up their own minds.
Re: Pesticide believed to kill bees is authorised for use in England
#57I’m not really sure yet how I feel about this particular case of temporary emergency authorization (which is omitted from the title). I get the chemicals were banned for good reason, but in this case they are trying to prevent a whole commodity sector from collapsing. Tough situation to be in. The larger issue to me is how warped the debate around saving bees and pollinators has become. I get very frustrated every ti…
I was with you for a lot of this post. However, I'm curious how one can say that "Beekeepers as a service" are harmed and not wild bees. How would wild bees be distinct from harm? It's not like a virus that harms humans distinguishes populations. How does this harm one group and not the other?
I think the complaint is that many of the dramatic bee-decline stories are, without mentioning it, just about rent-a-hive services. It seems dishonest to present as evidence of an environmental catastrophe a particular business problem.
However, as you say, there are real concerns about wild insect declines, and the same chemicals surely kill both. These are what should get airtime.
Re: Pesticide believed to kill bees is authorised for use in England
#58Here is what I learned about this particular pesticide, from my cousin, who is a farmer who also sometimes plants sugar beets.
1. This particular pesticide comes in the form of a pill, which is planted with the seed.
2. It is very targeted on a particular pest (german name is Rübenrüsselkäfer).
3. Without it, the whole field will be lost.
4. The replacement is a conventional broad band pesticide. It kills everything. He said that after using it once, when he walked the field he saw all kinds of dead bugs and worms - which are kinda important for the soil as well. He said "farming like this makes no sense" and stopped growing sugar beets.
The real killer however is this:
5. Sugar beets do not blossom.
Re: Pesticide believed to kill bees is authorised for use in England
#59I’m not really sure yet how I feel about this particular case of temporary emergency authorization (which is omitted from the title). I get the chemicals were banned for good reason, but in this case they are trying to prevent a whole commodity sector from collapsing. Tough situation to be in. The larger issue to me is how warped the debate around saving bees and pollinators has become. I get very frustrated every ti…
I don't know where you're from, but for our US readers it might be worth pointing out that large farms in the UK are nowhere near the size of "large" farms in the US.
I've also never heard of "bees as a service" here, though I know it exists in the US.
For reference, I'm not a farmer, but live in the British countryside.
Re: Pesticide believed to kill bees is authorised for use in England
#60The article title purposefully leaves out the "emergency use authorization" part in order to drum up anger. I think that part should be put in. 11 other countries have joined in the emergency authorization so its not just a UK thing. This is not a pro/against post about Thiamethoxam. The studies seem a bit divided, and the UK banned out of abundance of caution from a European Food Safety Authority study, versus a lar…
"emergency use authorization"'s tend to be renewed, and renewed, and finally made permanent...