The Government has decided the threshold has been met to allow the use of a banned chemical on sugar beet crops to combat a potential virus. The Wildlife Trusts are appalled the Government is permitting the use of the highly toxic pesticide, thiamethoxam, given that it was banned in 2018 due to unacceptable risks to the environment, especially to bees and other pollinators.

The decision to authorise the use of thiamethoxam - a neonicotinoid, or 'neonic' pesticide - goes against recommendations from the Government’s advisors, the Health and Safety Executive and the Expert Committee on Pesticides. Both state they cannot support the authorisation.

Craig Bennett, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“The approval to use this bee-killing pesticide is scandalous. The Government has outlined ambitions to restore nature, promising to protect 30% of land by 2030 and reverse declines of precious wildlife – but at the same time, it is giving a green light to use a highly toxic chemical that could harm pollinating insects and pollute soils and rivers. A single teaspoon of this chemical can kill 1.25 billion bees, while studies also show a range of sub-lethal effects that affect insects’ ability to forage and reproduce.

“We need to restore the natural world and gradually wean ourselves off using chemicals in agriculture – it’s time the Government listened to their own experts who have said they cannot support the use of this pesticide, it’s simply too dangerous.”

An application by the NFU and British Sugar for emergency authorisation of thiamethoxam was authorised by the Secretary of State for the Environment, George Eustice, in January. It was dependent on understanding whether the ‘beet yellows virus’ would exceed a certain threshold on 1 March. Unfortunately, today’s forecast means that farmers will be able to apply this chemical to their sugar beet crops.

The Wildlife Trusts are concerned that the use of bee-killing pesticides could become the new norm with bans lifted every year. Even if the forecasting model used to authorise this seed treatment wasn’t fundamentally flawed (it forecast a virus incidence of 39% in 2019 when in fact the incidence rate was just 1.8%), this decision would still be bad for nature. The Government claim they have followed the science, but in authorising the use of thiamethoxam the Secretary of State has gone against the explicit advice of their own appointed experts.