site.bta Greenpeace Urges Bulgaria to Enforce EU Ban on Neonicotinoids

Greenpeace Urges Bulgaria to Enforce EU Ban on Neonicotinoids

Sofia, February 6 (BTA) - The Bulgarian office of Greenpeace has called on the caretaker Minister of Agriculture and Food, Hristo Bouzoukov, and the Executive Director of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, Damyan Iliev, to ban even the limited and controlled use of pesticides containing neonicotinoids in Bulgaria.

In letters addressed to the two institutions, the environmental organization cited official data about the risks which neonicotinoids pose to honeybees, including a conclusion drawn by the European Food Safety Authority and a recent analysis by scientists at the University of Sussex, UK.

A partial ban on the use of the substances clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, which belong to the neonicotinoid family, has been in effect in the EU since 2013. Attempts are made every year in a number of member states, including Bulgaria, to obtain an exception (derogation) to the ban.

Greenpeace Bulgaria expressed their concern about a January 31 conference which was organized by the Agriculture and Food Ministry to consider a possible derogation in 2017 similar to the one in 2016. Meglena Antonova, a coordinator for organic farming at Greenpeace Bulgaria, said: "Our organization was not invited to the event until after we contacted the organizers and asked to take part. A number of other environmental and bee breeding organizations did not attend it, which is disturbing, considering the paramount public importance of the matter of neonicotinoids."

Despite the prevalence of scientific data about the harm of neonicotinoids, there is a real danger that the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency may allow their use this year as well, Antonova said. She believes Bulgaria should embrace Europe's precautionary approach to the use of these substances and apply the EU ban on the three types of neonicotinoids strictly and without exception.