The government has approved a pesticide which contains thiamethoxam, for use on sugar beets. The decisions was made due to the rising cases of yellow virus, in sugar beets, which can cause significant damage to crop production. Whilst this seems liable, the same pesticide was banned in 2018 by the UK and EU because of the detrimental effects it will have on the bees population.
The same pesticide was banned in 2018 by the UK and EU because of detrimental effects it will have on the bees population.
With an increase in global warming, bees are already being affected, with more reports each year of a decline in their populations. This is why the increased use of harmful pesticides for vegetation seems wholly futile, when farming would decline exponentially without bees.
Along with the pesticide being in use again, the government has also outlined that, no flowering crops can be grown within 32 months of using the pesticide. Which not only limits farmers income, it also completely goes against eco-farming. As there will be a lack of plantation taking in Carbon Dioxide on the fields affected, this increases the negative effects of global warming and will continue to affect bees populations.
It seems clear then, that the use of the pesticide – thiamethoxam – will inherently deprive the revival of bee pollinators in the UK. Along with expert advice being ignored and the pleas from the climate crisis organisations being shunned, this only emphasises the poor decision making – which will inevitably have huge consequences, sooner than we realise.