Sugar beet farmers will be allowed to use a banned bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticide this year – for the third year in a row – the government has decided.
Farming minister Mark Spencer made the decision to allow use of thiamethoxam in England under an emergency exemption, just days after the EU outlawed such action.
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UK guidance states that emergency exemptions should not be granted more than once.
The Pesticide Collaboration, a coalition of health, environmental, farming and consumer groups, academics and trade unions, said the decision to approve the neonicotinoid for a third year running was “a total failure of responsibility to protect vital species”.
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