Sustain members celebrate European Union vote to ban neonicotinoids

Many Sustain members are celebrating that their years of campaigning have paid off and there is now a near total ban of neonicotinoids. Scientists have linked the use of the insecticide on farm crops to the decline of honey bees and other pollinators.

Friends of the Earth supporters played a vital part in the ban by signing petitions, sharing actions, and speaking to their MPs.

PAN-UK have spent almost a decade warning of the dangers neonicotinoids pose to bees.

Peter Melchett, the policy director for The Soil Association welcomes the EU ban but points out that this should not be the whole solution for protecting pollinators:

“The current model of farming, based on a limited number of crops sprayed with a rapidly increasing number of toxic ingredients, is causing devastating harm to the environment and to the wildlife that depends on it. Banning neonicotinoids is a positive step but it will not solve the wider problem if they are simply replaced with another pesticide. We need to move towards alternative systems of farming, such as organic, to find environmentally-sensitive ways of producing food while reversing the recent terrifying collapse in insect populations.”

Sustain campaigns for a food and farming policy which benefits the environment, health, animals and farmers which includes helping people know more about where their food comes from.