The Government have gagged their own pesticide advisers after they have refused to support an application by the National Farmers Union (NFU) to lift a ban on bee-harming chemicals. The insecticides in question, neonicotinoids, have already been banned in the EU since 2013 and the gag is intended to avoid campaigners lobbying ministers.
The pollination from bees is important for many crops and investigation indicates that the nerve agents found in the insecticides can cause serious harm to bees.
However, concerns have been raised by the NFU who argue that without the pesticides oil seed rape is becoming affected. A spokeswoman for the NFU said: "Oil seed rape crops have been devastated and are impossible to grow in some areas of the country."
The Expert Committee on Pesticides (EPC), part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), refused to back the National Farmers Union in their request for an emergency lift on the ban. The Ministers have said a final decision is yet to be made on the request.
Much of the documentation surrounding the request and a subsequent meeting has yet to be published, with an ECP official informing campaigners that: "We have been approached by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) who have requested that we postpone publication of the minutes."
A July agenda is also yet to be published.
The gagging by DEFRA appears to breach the ECP’s terms of reference, which state that "the committee will make its scientific conclusions and recommendations available to the public and other interested parties in a way which aims to be comprehensive, clear and timely."
It also seems to go against the Government’s code of practice for science advisory committees which outlines that they "should expect to operate free of influence from the sponsor department officials or ministers".
Paul de Zylva, from Friends of the Earth and chair of the Bee Coalition has, argued: "The threat to Britain’s bees from rising pesticide use is of huge public interest. But the secrecy and lack of information surrounding this crucial issue is astonishing."
