Bee-saving vote delayed two years
On the eve of a Europe-wide day of action calling for the European Commission to protect bees from harmful pesticides, the Commission announced it will delay the implementation of new pesticide testing standards by a full two years and may revise them.
SumOfUs, a movement of consumers setup to hold corporations accountable for their actions, has announced its dismay that the Commission decided to listen to āthe pesticide industry lobbyists over citizensā. The group organised a day of action and collected 230,000 petition signatures from Europeans calling for the swift implementation of āBee Guidanceā standards first published by the European Food Safety Authority in 2013.
SumOfUs Spokesperson, Rebecca Falcon said, āThe European Commissionās undemocratic decision to put off saving bees from toxic pesticides stinks of industry manipulation. The EU should be doing more to show that it is on the side of citizens and bees if it wants our support. SumOfUs members across Europe will continue to demand that the Commission scraps its undemocratic delay, starting with our Europe-wide day of action with events in Berlin, Rome, Paris, London, Dublin, Riga and Bucharest. To protect Europeās bees, we desperately need these science-based āBee Guidanceā pesticide testing standards, or bees – which we all rely on – will continue to die from exposure to deadly pesticides.ā
More Information: https://actions.sumofus.org/a/keep-the-bee-defenders-fight-to-save-the-bees-going?source=campaigns
Published in International Pest Control ā May/June 2019 issue.
Category: news in brief
