August 2016
Bees and other pollinators play a vital role in the security of our food supply and the quality of our environment. I welcome the Government’s work to understand and protect them, most recently through the National Pollinator Strategy.
There are rules providing for the use of normally restricted products to be authorised in emergency situations to protect crops. If emergency authorisation is granted, this does not mean that the ban has been lifted: the facility to allow strictly controlled, targeted uses of pesticides under an emergency authorisation is an essential feature of precautionary bans.
These decisions are taken based on recommendations from the Expert Committee on Pesticides, the independent body of scientists that advises the Government. It takes all environmental factors into account, including the effects of using greater quantities of less effective alternative pesticides.
Restrictions on neonicotinoids will not be removed as long as the evidence shows that they should remain.
