Source:Reuters
France said it plans to ban a pesticide made by Syngenta that is widely used
to treat rapeseed crops after scientists suggested it could pose danger to
bees.
A sharp decline in bee populations across the world in recent years, partly
due to a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder, has prompted criticism of
pesticide use, although research has yet to show clearly the causes of
falling bee numbers.
France intends to withdraw the permit of the Cruiser OSR (active ingredients:
thiamethoxam + fludioxonil + metalaxyl-M) pesticide used for coating rape seeds,
pending a two-week period during which Syngenta can submit its own evidence,
Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll said on Friday.
The decision was based on a report from French health and safety agency
ANSES, which went along with recent scientific findings suggesting that a
sub-lethal dose of thiamethoxam, a molecule contained in Cruiser, made bees more
likely to lose their way and die.
"To protect rapeseed plants there exist alternatives to coating seeds that
are already widely used. If the withdrawal of the authorisation (for Cruiser
OSR) is confirmed, farmers will therefore have solutions to call on," Le Foll
said in a statement.
Syngenta rejected the move as based on a single study and not backed up by
field observations.
"Currently in France you have 650,000 hectares that are cultivated (with
Cruiser-treated rapeseed), and there are no cases of bee mortality identified as
being linked to Cruiser," Laurent Peron, head of corporate communication for
Syngenta France said.
This crop area amounts to nearly half of about 1.5 million hectares of
rapeseed sown in France. In Europe, more than 3 million hectares of rapeseed use
Cruiser, including in Germany, Peron said.
France seeks EU review
France is the largest crop producer in the European Union and with Germany is
the leading EU grower of rapeseed, used for making vegetable oil and biodiesel
fuel.
The French ban on the pesticide will take effect before the start of the next
rapeseed sowing campaign in late summer, a farm ministry official said,
stressing that it would not affect versions of Cruiser used for other crops such
as maize (corn).
France also has asked the European Commission to reconsider its criteria for
authorising Cruiser for rapeseed ahead of the next sowing campaign, Le Foll
said.
In its report, ANSES said while exposure of bees to thiamethoxam in actual
field conditions was lower than in the recent study on bee navigation, a similar
level could not be excluded in some circumstances.
More research is needed at European level on the impact on bees as well as a
broader review of the neonicotinoid family of substances to which thiamethoxam
belongs, it said.
In a separate opinion published on Friday, the European Food Safety Authority
said doses of neonicotinoids tested in the bee research were above the highest
residue levels actually recorded in plant nectar, adding that more studies were
needed to evaluate exposure in different field situations.
Dave Goulson of Stirling University in Scotland, who led another recent study
on risks to bees from neonicotinoids, said there was growing evidence that these
chemicals may play a role.
"It would be massively oversimplifying to say that these chemicals are the
only cause of bee decline, although it is clear they are a part of the problem,"
Dave said.
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