Back in 2020, we shared how the European Union’s top court upheld a French pesticide ban to protect bees. Now the court is back with another pro-pollinator ruling, upholding an EU partial ban on three insecticides linked to harming bees.
The lawsuit, filed by Bayer, attempted to overturn the pesticide restrictions, claiming that pesticides should still be allowed in agricultural settings with appropriate restrictions.
The ban applies to three active substances, imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam, all developed by different agricultural chemical companies. The substances were initially restricted in 2013 due to evidence they were contributing to declining bee colonies. Although the EU still occasionally grants permission for use in emergency situations, such as mass crop loss, this upheld restriction is good news for European bee populations.
The European Commission has proposed targets to cut pesticide use by 50 percent in the EU by 2030 to further protect bee species.
