Beleid en debat

The effect of imidacloprid and fipronil on Sympetrum infuscatum larvae and adults during the rice cultivation period was monitored using an experimental micro-paddy lysimeter (MPL) system. Twenty-two hatched larvae were laid on the soil surface of each MPL. MPLs were treated with imidacloprid, fipronil, and the control MPL was left untreated. The pesticide concentration, S. infuscatum larval and adult populations, and larval emergence time were monitored in each MPL.

In den USA werden mehr Pestizide eingesetzt als je zuvor. Das zeigen die Zahlen der US-Umweltbehörde EPA. Und das, obwohl immer mehr gentechnisch veränderte Pflanzen angebaut werden, die den Einsatz von Pestiziden verringern sollten. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt der Gentechnikexperte Christoph Then in einer Studie, die er im Auftrag des grünen Europaabgeordneten Martin Häusling erstellt hat. Then widerlegt damit das Hauptargument für den Einsatz gentechnisch veränderter Pflanzen.

Syngenta has written to farm ministers in France and The Netherlands to urge them to vote down an EU proposal to ban neonicotinoid pesticides. Both countries have voiced their opposition against the continued use of neonicotinoids, which some scientists have linked to declining bee populations. The letter claims that the varroa mite and the diseases it transmits are the "principal causes of bee health". It asks why countries such as Scotland and Switzerland have poor bee health, despite their very limited use of neonicotinoid seed treatment. However, bee populations in Australia, where neonicotinoids are widely used, are "thriving". In its letter, Syngenta claims the EFSA evaluation on Cruiser (thiamethoxam) ignored key field studies and found "no unacceptable or unmanageable risks to bee populations". "Given the fact that thiamethoxam has been used on millions of hectares of French crops without damaging the health of bees over the past X years, it's no surprise that EFSA acknowledged that its latest theoretical evaluation contained a 'high level of uncertainty'," the letter says. Later this month, member states will be asked to vote on an European Commission proposal for a two-year ban on the use of neonicotinoids on crops considered attractive to bees, such as oilseed rape, maize, sunflowers and cotton. France and The Netherlands support a ban, but the UK, Germany and Spain are understood to be against it. If enough countries vote against the proposal, a blocking minority of votes could derail a ban. An industry source said: "For the proposal to be passed, there has to be a qualified majority - around two-thirds of the vote. The bigger EU countries have more votes than the smaller EU countries. If you were to get Spain, Germany and the UK to vote against a ban, then you would be running very close to a blocking minority."

Die EU-Kommission hat empfohlen, drei synthetische Insektizide wegen der möglichen Gefahren für Bienen für zunächst zwei Jahre aus dem Verkehr zu ziehen. Verhängen die EU-Staaten ein Verbot, müsste die Schweiz laut dem Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft (BLW) nicht automatisch nachziehen. «Ein Alleingang würde aber schwieriger», sagte BLW-Sprecher Jürg Jordi zu einer Meldung der «Aargauer Zeitung» und der «Südostschweiz» vom Mittwoch. Die Schweiz verfolge die Diskussion in der EU. Sollte sich bei der Überprüfung der Insektizide Neues ergeben, könnten Massnahmen ergriffen werden. Ein Verbot müsste das laut Jordi nicht sein. «Denkbar wären auch neue Einschränkungen für die betroffenen drei synthetischen Neonicotinoide», sagte er mit Verweis auf die bereits strengeren Vorgaben in der Schweiz. Zudem sei umstritten, ob und wie weit Neonicotinoide den Bienen schadeten. Peter Neumann, Leiter des Institutes für Bienengesundheit an der Universität Bern, würde es begrüssen, «wenn die Schweiz etwas unternehmen würde», wie er auf Anfrage der Nachrichtenagentur sda sagte. Er spricht von zwar nicht tödlichen, aber trotzdem dramatischen Effekten der Neonicotinoide für Bienen. Diese Mittel haben mit dem Tod vieler Honigbienenvölker im Winter vermutlich zwar nicht direkt etwas zu tun, doch sie können die Anfälligkeit gegenüber Krankheiten erhöhen und die Fruchtbarkeit der Wildbienen beeinträchtigen, wie Neumann sagte. Mit den gängigen Zulassungsverfahren lassen sich diese Auswirkungen aber nicht nachweisen.

Satellite technology and advances in robotics are set to revolutionise the future of farming. Out go the heavy, soil destroying combines and tractors, in come a light army of mini robots which weed, spray and pick crops at the optimum time. Expert agronomists will advise thousands of farmers at a time. Using real data, farmers will be able to maximise the yield and quality of the crops as they leave the field. Sarah Cruddas meets the scientists engineering the robotic shepherds of the future, and hops into the cab of a self-driving tractor to experience labour and fuel saving precision farming. She also hears from Science Minister, David Willetts who believes that the UK can become Europe's centre of satellite technology. The data provided will, in the coming years, become more and more detailed enabling farmers to have a greater understanding of their land and allow them to produce yield maps and farm more efficiently than ever before. Costing The Earth ask if farms of the future will be run by a fleet of robots: from crop-picking automatons to swarms of electronic bees, and whether the farmer of the future be found in a control centre rather than out in a muddy field.

The British Government is completely free to ignore recommendations from European safety regulators that controversial nerve-agent pesticides should not be used on crops visited by bees, MPs were told. Herman Fontier, head of the pesticides division of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), told a Parliamentary committee that his organisation’s recommendation two weeks ago that neonicotinoid pesticides, widely blamed for bee declines around the world, should be kept away from bees, was merely a risk assessment – and it was up to individual EU member states whether or not to act on it. In Britain the Environment Secretary, Owen Patterson, has already indicated that the Government is likely to ignore the recommendation and is opposed to an immediate ban on three neonicotinoids highlighted by the EFSA report, imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam, made by the giant agribusiness companies Bayer and Syngenta. Mr Patterson’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is carrying out its own research into neonicotinoids and bees. The EFSA report, which came after more than 30 scientific papers implicating the chemicals in damage to bees and bee colonies, said that they “pose a number of risks to bee health”. But asked by the Green MP Caroline Lucas, at a hearing of the Environment Audit Committee, whether or not EFSA could take the recommendation any further, Mr Fontier said they could not. His organisation dealt only with risk assessment, not with risk management, he said. “A lot of scientific rigour has gone into your conclusion that these chemicals should only be used on crops not attractive to bees, and that’s a fairly catergorical statement,” Ms Lucas said. “But if a member state decides to do something completely different, do you just have to say, ‘fine, there’s nothing we can do’?” “There’s nothing, really nothing more we can do,” Mr Fontier said.

Het bedrijf heeft geen beroep ingesteld tegen de uitspraak van de commissie van 11 december 2012. Deze reclame is misleidend in de stellingen dat het middel "geen bodemwerking zou kennen", "niet zou achterblijven in de grond" en "niet zou doordringen tot het grondwater", aldus de Reclame Code Commissie. De advertentie 'Roundup, de feiten' verscheen in juni 2012 in de Telegraaf en De Vokskrant. De klacht tegen de reclame was ingediend door gifsoja.nl samen met Corporate Europe Observatory en Pesticide Action Network. De klacht werd onderbouwd met verwijzingen naar een serie wetenschappelijke onderzoeken uit verschillende landen. Tjerk Dalhuisen, een van de indieners zegt "De advertentie probeerde de indruk te wekken dat Roundup onschadelijk is. Er stonden grove feitelijke onwaarheden in. Roundup is schadelijk voor het bodemleven en vormt een groot probleem voor de drinkwatervoorziening. Roundup richt overal in de wereld grote schade aan bij mens, dier en natuur."

While European policymakers are taking steps to protect bees from harmful pesticides, EPA is poised to approve yet another bee-toxic pesticide for use here in the U.S. Instead of following the science and protecting bees from known harms, the agency is set to conditionally register another new pesticide known to harm bees, sulfoxaflor, for a broad variety of uses. Sulfoxaflor is a cousin to imidacloprid and clothianidin, with shared mechanisms of action (all work on the same bee brain synapses — nicotinic acetylcholine receptors).