Plea to use banned pesticides dismissed

The Government has rejected two “emergency” requests by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) to use pesticides known as neonicotinoids to prevent cabbage stem flea beetle infestation on 120,000 hectares - around a fifth of England’s oilseed rape crop.

The pesticides are banned by the European Union for crops such as oilseed rape, amid concerns over harmful impacts on bees, such as damaging their ability to forage and navigate.

But emergency use can be approved for limited and controlled circumstances where the problem cannot be dealt with in any other way.

The Government turned down the latest applications, which come after a failed bid by the NFU for use of the pesticides for a third of England’s oilseed crop, on the advice of their Expert Committee on Pesticides.

The committee said there was insufficient information to ensure the chemicals would only be used in areas where there is the biggest threat to the plants from the beetles. And it warned that there was not “adequate assurance that the use would be controlled in an appropriate fashion”.

NFU vice president Guy Smith said he had no doubt that a tricky establishment period this autumn would mean a huge percentage of the oilseed rape crop will be lost, adding: “Neonicotinoids are widely used around the world and are only restricted in the EU. We remain convinced there’s still no clear evidence that they are causing any widespread decline in bee populations.”