site.btaEnvironmentalists Demand Complete Ban on Neonicotinoide Insecticides

Environmentalists Demand Complete Ban on Neonicotinoide Insecticides

Sofia, March 21 (BTA) - Six environmental NGOs have sent a letter to Agriculture and Food Minister Hristo Bozukov and the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency head Damyan Iliev, asking for support for imposing a complete ban on active insecticide substances such as imidacloprid, clothianidine and thiamethoxam. They also demand full application of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) risk assessment guidance with respect to bees at approval of use of any kind of pesticide in the EU.

The letter is signed by the heads of the Foundation for Environment and Agriculture, the Bulgarian Organic Products Association, Greenpeace Bulgaria, the Natural Honey Association, the Confederation of Bulgarian Beekeepers, and For the Earth environmental association.

The letter was occasioned by the Food Safety Agency's permission of limited and controlled release of pesticides on the market. The decision was made on March 20.

"Once again such decisions are passed without the tangible participation of civil society, beekeepers, other farmers and stakeholders," the letter says, commenting that the Agency has again given in to the demands of major grain producers and chemical corporations.

The organizations have also sent a declaration warning about the risks posed by such a permission. The bees' winter/spring death rate is very high and between 50 and 80 per cent of the beehives have died in many places. Some have died altogether, not least because of sublethal doses of pesticides introduced with pollen in the summer of 2016.