The ongoing disappearance of wild bees and honeybees is a potential disaster, jeopardising pollination services worth £12.4 billion in the EU and increasing the risk of crop failures, but the causes of these declines are still a mystery. Habitat destruction, pesticides, disease and starvation are on the suspect list and recent work has indicated that Colony Collapse Disorder in honeybees may be caused by an interaction between pathogens and stress factors. One potential stress factor, which is central to the global debate, is the neonicotinoid pesticides; banned to different degrees in a number of European countries, these pesticides have been regularly linked to bee declines.

Neonicotinoid pesticides are a comparatively new group of synthetic chemicals related to Nicotine that are highly toxic to insects. They are often used as a coating for agricultural seeds. The chemicals spread throughout the plant and into the nectar and pollen that bees then eat. This direct route of contact between neonicotinoid pesticides and bees as well as other pollinators means the risk these pesticides pose should have been thoroughly assessed prior to their approval so that it was clear there was no risk of environmental damage.

As a result of growing concern regarding neonicotinoid pesticides and their involvement in bee decline, Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust, a UK charity committed to the conservation of all invertebrates – has undertaken a comprehensive review of all producer funded, approvals associated research and independent research on the effects of neonicotinoid pesticides on honeybees, bumblebees and other non-target invertebrates. The report also examines the current approvals mechanism and its standards in relation to risk to non-target invertebrates.

Scientific evidence presented in the report shows that the neonicotinoid imidacloprid (the most common neonicotinoid) is predicted to occur in the UK countryside in pollen and nectar at potentially harmful levels. Bees eating nectar and pollen contaminated with imidacloprid then forage less and produce fewer offspring. Findings also reveal a disparity between independent research and the research that was undertaken by Bayer, the producer of the neonicotinoid pesticide imidacloprid, for the approval report for imidacloprid. Independent research found that neonicotinoid pesticides resulted in significant negative impacts on bees. This research was not included in the approval report and many aspects of a bee’s lifecycle were not adequately assessed.

The report also examined the current approvals process for pesticides and found the process to be insufficient for assessing sub-lethal effects and chronic exposure risks to honeybees and other non-target invertebrates, with no standards for sub-lethal effects and inappropriate assessment methods for systemic pesticides. This means that the product approval decisions which are made in the UK by the UK’s Chemicals Regulation Directorate are reliant on inadequate research.

Given the essential nature of pollination services provided by the honeybee, bumblebees, solitary bees and other insects, and given the current deteriorating state of the populations of these animals, any additional risk to their populations from pesticide use constitutes an unacceptable influence on the environment. The precautionary principle states that if there are reasonable scientific grounds for believing that a new product may not be safe, it should not be used until there is convincing evidence that the risks are small and outweighed by the benefits. This is confirmed in the European Directive which controls the use of pesticides as plant protection products, the Directive states that “Member States shall ensure that a plant protection product is not authorised unless…..it has no unacceptable influence on the environment.” “Authorisations may be reviewed at any time if there are indications that any of the requirements….are no longer satisfied.” Therefore, the UK is required to act if an unacceptable influence is proved. In addition to this there are a number of generic key weaknesses in the European approval process making the approval research not comprehensive enough in regard to risks to bees. This unacceptable situation needs urgent attention.

As a result of the findings of the report a collective of environmental NGOs, which includes Buglife, the Soil Association, Pesticides Action Network, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Plantlife, the Grassland Trust and the Edinburgh Entomological Club, are calling for the suspension of all UK approvals for products containing neonicotinoids that are used outdoors and a review of all neonicotinoid approvals. In addition, there needs to be more comprehensive international methodologies for assessing the effects of candidate pesticides on non-target invertebrates as part of the approval procedures.