A committee of MPs says that the Government has allowed pesticide manufacturers too much control over research into how their products could be causing the death of bees.
A report published this week by the Commons Environmental Audit Committee says that to date too much of the research into the impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on bees and other pollinators has been funded directly by the pesticide industry
The Committee warns that this is severely damaging the ability of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to act as a neutral ‘referee’ on a highly contentious subject
The report concludes: “Defra’s reliance on industry to fund critically important research exposes it to excessive reliance on the commercial (rather than scientific) research priorities of these bodies and is symptomatic of a loss of Defra’s capacity to deliver its environmental protection obligations.”
In December, against the British Government’s wishes, the EU imposed a temporary ban on the use of classes of neonicotinoid pesticides.
The Labour MP, Joan Walley, who is chair of the environmental audit committee, told The Times: “If the research is to command public confidence, independent controls need to be maintained at every step. Unlike other research funded by pesticide companies, these studies also need to be peer- reviewed and published in full.”
