Three pesticides routinely used by European farmers pose an ‘acute risk’ to honey bees, according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). In three studies published yesterday, EFSA addresses long-standing concerns of beekeepers and scientists about dwindling populations of pollinator bees, which are essential to farming and natural ecosystems.

The review, requested by the European Commission last year and carried out by EFSA’s Panel on Plant Protection Products and their Residues, assesses the risks posed to bees by three types of neonicotinoid insecticides: clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam. This family of pesticides has been used by European farmers since the early 1990s and is sold by Syngenta in Basel, Switzerland, and Bayer CropScience in Monheim, Germany. EFSA says none of the three should be used on crops that are attractive to bees, such as maize, rapeseed, or sunflower. Although the study does not link the pesticides to the collapse of whole bee colonies, the agency’s advice could open the door to a neonicotinoid ban in the European Union. Several countries, including France and Slovenia, have already restricted the compounds’ use in the past years.

‘With hindsight, EFSA appears to agree that the [initial approval procedure for neonicotinoids] was not thought through at the […]