Corporate lobbying in the EU to prove that Cruiser was not behind bee colony collapse

Influencing policy in the European Union without the need to become an elected politician is the hallmark of a good lobbyist. Brussels is known to be rife with industry specialists, or ‘public affairs professionals’, seeking to water down legislative proposals which might harm business interests. Farmers make up a strong lobby and wherever there are farmers there are corporations, producers of agri-chemicals, biotechnology and so forth. After the collapse of a bee colony was linked to a widely used pesticide, the French government introduced a ban on its use. The French health and safety agency ANSES reacted strongly to the presence of a sub-lethal dose of a molecule which appeared to confuse bees and disrupt the hive. Swiss corporation Syngenta was given two weeks to prove that the neonicotinoid pesticide Cruiser was not behind the bee colony collapse. The corporation denied that its pesticides had anything to do with it. The presence of certain Members of the European Parliament at corporate lobbying events has not gone unnoticed.

According to the Corporate Europe Observatory (COE), a research group campaigning to expose the power of corporate lobbying in the EU, Scottish MEP George Lyon was present at Syngenta’s Forum for the Future of Agriculture, last year: “Syngenta staged Operation Pollinator, which sounds quite militaristic given that they were giving away cuddly bumblebees, fruits, rapeseed oil, port... glossy brochures of happy farmers praising pollinators on their farm and real bumblebees in glass cages. The corporation was observed by COE to be putting itself forward as a friend of bees while allegedly contributing to funding of the British Beekeepers Association, which has endorsed a number of pesticides as ‘bee friendly’.”
A technical EU group on beekeeping (beelife.eu) reported in 2010 that Syngenta, along with Bayer and BASF corporations, had its own representatives inside working groups advising the European Commission on policies dealing with the impacts of pesticides on bees.

Source:
The Sunday Times & Times of Malta, 30 September 2012
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120930/environment/Corporat…

Henk Tennekes

Tue, 11/27/2012 - 16:50

A restriction or ban on the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments in the UK could make growing some crops "economically unviable", according to Swiss agrichemical company Syngenta. The warning comes as parliament's Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) hears evidence this week (28/11/12) for and against the retention of neonicotinoid pesticides, which have been linked to bee colony collapse. In September, DEFRA rejected calls for a ban on neonicotinoids, saying despite numerous studies, there was no "unequivocal" evidence they were harmful to bees or other pollinators - even though they had been banned in other countries, including France and Germany. Amid increasing pressure from conservation groups, DEFRA secretary Owen Paterson has asked government officials to examine the practical consequences of a ban or restriction over the use of neonicotinoid pesticides. Syngenta, which is due to submit evidence this week to the EAC panel, said the potential loss of its neonicotinoid seed treatment Cruiser OSR would be a "devastating blow" to farmers.
Source: Farmers Weekly, 27 November 2012
http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/27/11/2012/136436/Syngenta-urges-MPs-to-f…