EU top court upholds ban on Bayer pesticides linked to harming bees (updated)

Bayer Cropscience

06/05/2021 10:23

(Updates with detail throughout)
    By Kate Abnett
    BRUSSELS, May 6 (Reuters) - The European Union's top court
on Thursday upheld the EU's partial ban on three insecticides
linked to harming bees, preventing their use on certain crops.
    The European Court of Justice dismissed an appeal by Bayer
 BAYGn.DE  to overturn a lower EU court's 2018 decision to
uphold the ban. 
    The ruling covers three active substances - imidacloprid
developed by Bayer CropScience, clothianidin developed by Takeda
Chemical Industries  4502.T  and Bayer CropScience, as well as
Syngenta's thiamethoxam.
    A Bayer spokesperson said it was disappointed by the verdict
and stood by the safety of the products, which continue to be
used in other regions with appropriate risk mitigation measures
applied.
    "The verdict seems to allow the (European) Commission almost
carte blanche to review existing approvals upon the slightest
evidence, which need not even be new scientific data," the
spokesperson said.
    The Commission in 2013 restricted the use of the
neonicotinoids, meaning they could not be used on maize,
rapeseed and some spring cereals. They could still be used for
other crops, such as sugar beet.
    The Commission had reviewed the approvals because of the
loss of bee colonies due to the misuse of pesticides. 
    Bayer had said there was insufficient new scientific
knowledge to justify the restrictions. The EU’s highest court on
Thursday dismissed that appeal and ordered Bayer to bear its own
costs plus those of other parties.
    "The Court of Justice has reaffirmed that protecting nature
and people’s health takes precedence over the narrow economic
interests of powerful multinationals," said Greenpeace legal
strategist Andrea Carta.
    Bayer and ChemChina-owned Syngenta had warned that banning
the insecticides would mean farmers reverting to older chemicals
and spraying more. 
    Despite the ban, 206 emergency authorisations were granted
for the use of the substances in the EU between 2013 and 2019.
EU auditors last year said this pesticide use, while legal, was
thought to be responsible for honeybee losses.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2EF2O5
    To protect bees, the Commission has proposed targets to cut
the EU's use of chemical pesticides by 50% and to reduce
fertiliser use by 20% by 2030.

 (Reporting by Kate Abnett.  Editing by Marine Strauss and Mark
Potter)
 ((Kate.Abnett@thomsonreuters.com;))