Countries across the European Union – including the UK – vote to ban the outdoor use of three bee-harming pesticides
The EU has agreed to ban a group of insecticides that have been linked to a dramatic reduction in bee numbers.
Experts from the body’s 28 states agreed on Friday to ban the use of three toxic neonicotinoids, six years after the European Food Safety Authority concluded that the chemicals were harmful to bees. The outdoor application of imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam – the world’s most widely used insecticides – will be banned from all fields in EU member states within six months.
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“This is a major victory for science, common sense and our under-threat bees. The evidence that neonicotinoid pesticides pose a threat to our bees is overwhelming,” said Emi Murphy, a campaigner for bees at Friends of the Earth.
The chemicals have…
