One teaspoon of this pesticide is enough to kill 1 billion bees. The chemical in question is thiamethoxam a member of a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids.
Back in 2018 the EU banned the use of neonicotinoids for control of pests such as aphids in crops. This family of pesticides had conclusively been shown to contribute to colony collapse disorder in Bees. With Bee populations and insect populations in free fall around the world this was a positive and bold step against the large multinational producers of these toxic chemicals.
However, these pesticides are still prevalent in nature, right here in Ireland, our soils are till contaminated with residues of this class of pesticide even though some fields were never sprayed with this chemical and considering its overall ban in 2018 this seems remarkable, researchers from Dublin city University discovered.
Having said all that the key point here is that back in 2013 you had the giant manufacturers blatantly claiming that the pesticides were safe for bees, and blaming other factors for bee population decline. Farmers, scientists and these companies were all foretelling the end of agriculture crop devastation if these chemicals were banned.
A very similar argument used today when it comes to Glyphosate interestingly. Roll on over 10 years, and with the ban we still have food, we still have crops, and it seems that the removal of these chemicals has not caused the devastation the propaganda from the multinational pesticide manufacturers would have had us all believe.
Here is the funny thing though, but it isn’t actually funny at all, the manufacture of these chemicals still progresses right here in Europe and these chemicals in dizzying amounts are exported to countries where there are no such bans. For instance:
Unearthed and Public Eye found that Syngenta notified exports of more than 10,400 tonnes of thiamethoxam-based insecticides from the EU in 2021, to 61 different countries.
Of the 10,400 tonnes more than half of that weight came from a single planned export to Brazil of 5.9 million litres of the company’s blockbuster pesticide Engeo Pleno S – enough to spray the entire surface area of New Zealand.
In the UK which in its wisdom decided to depart the EU in 2021 has been granting emergency use of this class of pesticide right up until last year on sugar beet of all crops. Thankfully it looks like the light has finally been seen and a Pesticide emergency authorisation has been denied for 2025 to protect bees.
So, it seems we can make the changes necessary to protect biodiversity when we band together and fight. There will always be a fight it seems to do the right thing, but sometimes just sometimes good prevails and the right thing is done.
We certainly will never stop fighting and never stop sourcing and producing food in the right way as we have been doing for nearly 20 years.
And As always without your support this would not be possible so thank you.
Kenneth