The European Union’s top court ruled Thursday in favor of the European Commission’s partial ban on three pesticides hazardous to bees, much to the chagrin of Bayer—the German pharmaceutical and biotech company that merged with agrochemical giant Monsanto in 2018.

Bayer attempted to overturn the ban and undermine the E.U.’s “precautionary principle” for the protection of environmental and human health, but the European Court of Justice dismissed the corporation’s appeal and backed a lower court’s 2018 decision to uphold restrictions on the use of some pesticides on certain crops. In 2013, the Commission banned the use of imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam—three bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides—on maize, rapseed, and some cereals.

“The Court of Justice has reaffirmed that protecting nature and people’s health takes precedence over the narrow economic interests of powerful multinationals and that the precautionary principle is a cornerstone of E.U. law,” Greenpeace E.U. legal strategist Andrea Carta said in response to the top court’s ratification of the ban.

“This means the E.U. has a responsibility and the power to ensure the safety of all pesticides, chemicals, GM crops, and other dangerous products and substances,” said Carta.

While hailing the “landmark […]