In 2018 the EU and the UK announced an almost total ban on thiamethoxam because of the harm it causes bee colonies. According to the BBC:
Emergency use of a product containing the chemical thiamethoxam has been authorised in England because of a virus which affects sugar beets.
The decision came despite expert advisers finding pollution from the pesticide would damage river life, and requirements for use had not been met.
But Environment Secretary George Eustice said product use would be “limited and controlled”. Charities and campaign groups are angry at the chemical now being approved for use.
As part of the government’s decision, Mr Eustice said thiamethoxam could only be used once a virus threshold had been reached, to ensure use “only if necessary”.
British Sugar successfully applied for an exemption to allow the banned pesticide to be used in England this year because of the threat posed by yellow virus.
Scientific studies have linked the use of these chemicals to the falling numbers of honeybees, wild bees and other animals which pollinate plants.
Environmental groups are outraged. RSPB senior policy officer Stephanie Morren told the BBC:
“Across England the wildlife we love is in decline, even the buzzing of bees in our farmlands and countryside is becoming quieter every year. The farming system would collapse without bees.”
Joan Edwards, director of policy and public affairs at The Wildlife Trusts, said the move was “a clear betrayal of promises” made to protect the natural world.
Speaking to BBC Newsbeat, Milan Wiercx van Rhijn, from the charity Bees for Development, said that the insects play a vital role in the food chain, with around one third of the food we eat relying on pollination, mostly by bees. He said:
“If we kill the insects which are the starting blocks in the chain, we’ll kill the animals higher up. It’s hard to grasp how much of an impact it’ll have on us.”