U.K. Ban Proposed on Bee-Killing Pesticide

Pesticide manufacturer Bayer maintains that neonicotinoids are safe for bees if correctly applied.

Britain’s Soil Association has urged the government to join four other European countries in banning a pesticide linked to honeybee deaths around the world.

The Guardian reports that the chemicals, known as neonicotinoids, are approved to kill insects on a range of crops in the U.K. Germany suspended the sale of the pesticides in May following reports from 700 beekeepers in the Rhine Valley that two-thirds of their bees had died following their use.

Britain’s National Farmers’ Union blasted the proposed ban, saying it would not be based on “good science.”

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs attributes the honeybee decline to a variety of factors, and says there are no plans to ban the pesticides.

Bee colonies have declined between 30 and 90 percent around the world over the last two years, threatening two-thirds of all major crops that depend upon bees for pollination.

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