Somerford
Drone Bee
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2009
- Messages
- 1,672
- Reaction score
- 112
- Hive Type
- national
Here is the response from an emailed letter sent to Hilary Benn, MP I penned some 4 weeks ago. You will no doubt spot it was passed to someone else to answer which smacks of ignorance on the part of The Minister (well until the 6th May anyway!!)
Comments....... ?!
Dear Mr Auty,
Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding neonicotinoid pesticides, the regulatory approval process, and the new active substance spirotetramat, which you sent to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Hilary Benn. I have been asked to respond on the Minister’s behalf because the Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD) of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the Government body responsible for regulating pesticides in the UK.
Turning first of all to the general issue of pesticides and bees, it might be helpful if I described how scrutiny of pesticides is carried out before they are approved for use. Controls on pesticides work at a number of levels, initially by identifying and managing risk. Under EU pesticides legislation, pesticide active substances are evaluated at Community level. If an active substance meets EU safety requirements the products containing that active substance can then be authorised at Member State level, taking into account that country’s individual agronomic, climatic and dietary requirements.
In the UK, pesticides can only be sold or used after they have been approved by Government Ministers following review by the independent Advisory Committee on Pesticides. As part of this approval process, the Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD) of the Health and Safety Executive carries out checks to ensure the risks that can arise from the use of these products are not unacceptable. This will include an assessment of the toxicity of each product and the ways in which spray operators, the public or environment (in particular honey bees) may be exposed to it. We routinely restrict the way products can be used (e.g. specifying dose rates, timing and place of application) to ensure protection of human health and the environment.
Moving on to the issue of neonicotinoids, four EU Member States have placed restrictions on the use of neonicotinoids. There were very specific circumstances in Germany involving neonicotinoid seed treatments that led to the incidents of significant losses of bees in 2008, including the use of insufficient sticker to hold the pesticide onto the seed and the timing of sowing of treated seed (at the same time as neighbouring flowering crops). Initially the German authorities withdrew approval for eight products used on maize and oilseed rape but since then, Germany has re-instated the use of four products containing imidacloprid (one of this group of pesticides) for use on oilseed rape. Later in the year, Italy and Slovenia took action on similar products. The Slovenian action followed incidents similar to those in Germany, but the Italian action, as far as we are aware, is based on the German experience, and is a precautionary measure while it develops a monitoring system similar to the UK Government’s Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS). As you point out, France has had its own restrictions on use of certain neonicotinoid pesticides since the 1990’s, but does authorise their use on a number of arable crops, fruits and vegetables.
That said, Defra is investigating reports of honeybee colony losses as a high priority. Over the last two years Britain’s bee colonies have suffered significant losses due to a combination of factors including the poor spring/summer weather, the varroa mite, and other husbandry issues. Recently, the National Bee Unit has been investigating the causes of cases of significant colony losses. Analysis of the results of this research shows that the most important risk factor in the mortality or weakening of colonies is Deformed Wing Virus, a virus transmitted by the parasitic Varroa mite, clearly indicating failed or unsuccessful treatments of mite infestations. This highlights the importance of improving standards of husbandry and is in agreement with results from earlier studies investigating abnormal colony losses in 2007. The impact of mite infestations was exacerbated by the unfavourable weather conditions over the last two years which did not allow colonies to prosper.
Turning now to your concerns about spirotetramat, the US Court’s recent decision to revoke approval of use of spirotetramat in the USA was based on a procedural consultation oversight by the US Environment Protection Agency, and not because of any concerns about the active substance itself. There is a product containing spirotetramat approved for use in the UK following its assessment under the same rigorous evaluation process as I described above. There is no evidence to suggest that responsible use of spirotetramat poses a risk to bee health.
Finally, as part of its pesticides research programme the Government is funding a number of projects in support of the development of the pesticides risk assessment process. Some of these specifically relate to the potential impact of pesticides on honeybees, both from wide scale professional use and home-garden use of insecticides. These projects are still in progress. Previous work on the risk posed to honeybees by systemic insecticides, such as imidacloprid, has fed into international risk assessment models for honeybees.
CRD will continue to be involved with the development of bee risk assessment methodology, particularly through the revision by the European Plant Protection Office. CRD would, of course, act on any substantive evidence should incidents occur in the UK and will continue to keep abreast of research and developments in other EU Member States and elsewhere to see if they are relevant to the UK.
Yours sincerely
Kerry Hutchinson
Policy Implementation Team
Chemicals Regulation Directorate
Health and Safety Executive, York
Comments....... ?!
Dear Mr Auty,
Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding neonicotinoid pesticides, the regulatory approval process, and the new active substance spirotetramat, which you sent to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Hilary Benn. I have been asked to respond on the Minister’s behalf because the Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD) of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the Government body responsible for regulating pesticides in the UK.
Turning first of all to the general issue of pesticides and bees, it might be helpful if I described how scrutiny of pesticides is carried out before they are approved for use. Controls on pesticides work at a number of levels, initially by identifying and managing risk. Under EU pesticides legislation, pesticide active substances are evaluated at Community level. If an active substance meets EU safety requirements the products containing that active substance can then be authorised at Member State level, taking into account that country’s individual agronomic, climatic and dietary requirements.
In the UK, pesticides can only be sold or used after they have been approved by Government Ministers following review by the independent Advisory Committee on Pesticides. As part of this approval process, the Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD) of the Health and Safety Executive carries out checks to ensure the risks that can arise from the use of these products are not unacceptable. This will include an assessment of the toxicity of each product and the ways in which spray operators, the public or environment (in particular honey bees) may be exposed to it. We routinely restrict the way products can be used (e.g. specifying dose rates, timing and place of application) to ensure protection of human health and the environment.
Moving on to the issue of neonicotinoids, four EU Member States have placed restrictions on the use of neonicotinoids. There were very specific circumstances in Germany involving neonicotinoid seed treatments that led to the incidents of significant losses of bees in 2008, including the use of insufficient sticker to hold the pesticide onto the seed and the timing of sowing of treated seed (at the same time as neighbouring flowering crops). Initially the German authorities withdrew approval for eight products used on maize and oilseed rape but since then, Germany has re-instated the use of four products containing imidacloprid (one of this group of pesticides) for use on oilseed rape. Later in the year, Italy and Slovenia took action on similar products. The Slovenian action followed incidents similar to those in Germany, but the Italian action, as far as we are aware, is based on the German experience, and is a precautionary measure while it develops a monitoring system similar to the UK Government’s Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS). As you point out, France has had its own restrictions on use of certain neonicotinoid pesticides since the 1990’s, but does authorise their use on a number of arable crops, fruits and vegetables.
That said, Defra is investigating reports of honeybee colony losses as a high priority. Over the last two years Britain’s bee colonies have suffered significant losses due to a combination of factors including the poor spring/summer weather, the varroa mite, and other husbandry issues. Recently, the National Bee Unit has been investigating the causes of cases of significant colony losses. Analysis of the results of this research shows that the most important risk factor in the mortality or weakening of colonies is Deformed Wing Virus, a virus transmitted by the parasitic Varroa mite, clearly indicating failed or unsuccessful treatments of mite infestations. This highlights the importance of improving standards of husbandry and is in agreement with results from earlier studies investigating abnormal colony losses in 2007. The impact of mite infestations was exacerbated by the unfavourable weather conditions over the last two years which did not allow colonies to prosper.
Turning now to your concerns about spirotetramat, the US Court’s recent decision to revoke approval of use of spirotetramat in the USA was based on a procedural consultation oversight by the US Environment Protection Agency, and not because of any concerns about the active substance itself. There is a product containing spirotetramat approved for use in the UK following its assessment under the same rigorous evaluation process as I described above. There is no evidence to suggest that responsible use of spirotetramat poses a risk to bee health.
Finally, as part of its pesticides research programme the Government is funding a number of projects in support of the development of the pesticides risk assessment process. Some of these specifically relate to the potential impact of pesticides on honeybees, both from wide scale professional use and home-garden use of insecticides. These projects are still in progress. Previous work on the risk posed to honeybees by systemic insecticides, such as imidacloprid, has fed into international risk assessment models for honeybees.
CRD will continue to be involved with the development of bee risk assessment methodology, particularly through the revision by the European Plant Protection Office. CRD would, of course, act on any substantive evidence should incidents occur in the UK and will continue to keep abreast of research and developments in other EU Member States and elsewhere to see if they are relevant to the UK.
Yours sincerely
Kerry Hutchinson
Policy Implementation Team
Chemicals Regulation Directorate
Health and Safety Executive, York
