For the third year in a row, the Government have announced their decision to authorise a banned neonicotinoid pesticide for use on sugar beet grown in the UK this year. As well as being disastrous for wildlife, their decision has once again gone against the advice given by their own experts, who recommended that the authorisation should not go ahead. It also comes barely a month after the UK made a commitment to halve the environmental impacts of damaging pesticides by 2030, and just days after the EU’s highest court ruled that EU countries will no longer be allowed temporary exemptions for banned neonicotinoid pesticides like this one. Here, Joe Llanos, Policy & Information Officer, explores this issue further.

What are neonicotinoids and why do they matter? 

Neonicotinoids, or ‘neonics’, are a group of pesticides that include the chemical thiamethoxam, the subject of the Government’s latest authorisation. Neonics were once widely used in the UK, until a growing body of scientific evidence highlighted the damaging impact that they were having on our pollinators. After years of campaigning and public pressure, these chemicals were banned for outdoor use in 2018, with the then Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, concluding “we cannot afford to put our pollinator populations at risk”. 

Since the ban, studies have further improved our knowledge of the devastating impact that neonics have on pollinator populations. A single teaspoon of this type of chemical can kill 1.25 billion honeybees, enough to fill four lorryloads. Even tiny traces of these toxic chemicals play havoc with bees’ ability to forage and navigate, with catastrophic consequences for the survival of their colony. Ironically, on the very same day that the Government announced these pesticides would be returning to our countryside, another study was published that showed a clear link between neonicotinoid use in the US and the drastic decline of a once common bumblebee.1 Are we really willing to let the same happen to our precious pollinators here in the UK? 

Because of the huge evidence-base showing the harm caused to bees by neonics, both the Expert Committee on Pesticides and the Health & Safety Executive, who were tasked with providing advice to the Government on the authorisation, recommended that the risks to pollinators outweigh the benefits of granting the authorisation and concluded that they could not support the authorisation. 

The damaging impacts that neonics have on pollinators is also recognised by Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser in his own advice on the authorisation, in which he says, "There is clear and abundant evidence that these neonicotinoids are harmful to species other than those they are intended to control, and particularly to pollinators, including bees." Yet, seemingly in direct contradiction of the Government’s own experts, the Minister in charge then gave the go ahead to use them! 

What reasons do the Government give for approving the use of this neonic? 

The application for authorisation to use thiamethoxam was submitted by British Sugar and the NFU, due to the economic threat posed by Beet Yellows Virus. This virus affects growing sugar beet, reducing the yield of infected plants by around 25%. It is mainly spread by aphids, which can transfer the virus when they feed on the young beet plants.  

The Government are claiming that granting this authorisation is necessary, to protect the sugar industry from yield losses due to the virus. Defra’s own analysis concludes that in the worst-case scenario, virus infections could reduce yields and cost growers around £43 million. But if this were to happen in 2023, the costs incurred by growers can be partially offset by the crop loss insurance scheme they have with British Sugar. In contrast, pollinators have been estimated to contribute around £651 million to the UK economy every year, far above the highest potential cost of the virus. Unfortunately, the value of pollinators and the potential costs incurred as result of harm to our bee populations were not considered in the Government’s economic analysis. There is also no insurance scheme that bees can claim to recover their damage. 

Concerns about the impact of virus yellows should also be seen in the context of the other problems threatening sugar beet yields. Last year, severe drought across the east of England had a large impact on the sugar beet crop. The final yield figures have not yet been released, but all parties acknowledge that drought likely had a far greater impact on sugar beet than virus infection in 2022. A healthy natural ecosystem can make our farms more resilient to climate-related impacts like drought, but it cannot do this while under attack from toxic pesticides. Given that severe drought events will become more frequent with climate change, shouldn’t we be focused on boosting nature rather than poisoning it? 

What’s more, last year’s data shows that almost a third of the area used to grow sugar beet was planted with seeds that were not treated with thiamethoxam, despite the Government authorising its use in 2022. This means that more and more farmers chose to grow sugar beet without using the environmentally damaging neonicotinoid, even though they had the option to. Defra’s data suggests the farmers who didn’t use neonics experienced little to no impacts on their yield. This means that in 2022, these farmers were likely to be better off than those who had paid to use the neonicotinoid, as the costs of actual virus infection were lower than the cost to buy the neonic treated seeds. 

Where do we go from here? 

The Government are claiming that the authorisation of this neonicotinoid is ‘temporary’, but this is the third year in a row that it has been given the green light. As they have repeatedly ignored the advice of their own experts, it seems that the Government are continuing to slide back on their commitments, and we are seeing the routine use of bee-killing neonics becoming the norm once again. This is especially concerning given that British Sugar and the NFU claim that suitable alternatives are still several years away! 

It is clear that neonicotinoids belong in the past, not the future. We are calling on the Government to change course and stop the continued authorisation of banned bee-killing pesticides, and instead embrace solutions that work with nature, not against it. This includes promoting the development and uptake of new Integrated Pest Management strategies, and supporting the growing number of sugar beet farmers who are turning their backs on neonicotinoids. 

If you would like to stand with us in calling for an end to the use of banned neonicotinoid pesticides, you can contact your MP using our simple template and ask them to attend a Parliamentary debate on the issue. The debate will take place on Wednesday 1st February. 

This latest announcement is part of a number of disappointing decisions and policy developments that the Government are currently taking forward. This includes the Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill, which threatens to wipe away thousands of crucial laws which protect wildlife by the end of the year. As well as contacting your MP through the link above, you can find more ways that you can help to #DefendNature by visiting this page.