23rd April 2013
Email your MP to ask Owen Paterson to do the right thing in Europe
For four years Buglife has been campaigning for a precautionary ban on Neonicotinoid insecticides - in all that time the Government had failed to produce evidence that these chemicals are safe. Earlier this year, a report by the European Food Safety Authority identified that there was a high risk to bees from three neonicotinoids – Clothianidin, Imidacloprid and Thiamethoxam.
In response to this independent body report, the European Commission put forward a paper to all member states in the European Union which calls for a significant ban on these three major neonicotinoids.
Member States voted on this proposal on the 15th March but there wasn't a majority in favour of the ban, with the UK and Germany refusing to vote on it. The European Commission have taken this to a higher level and have appealed the decision. Another vote will take place on Monday 29th April.
We need your support. Please help us to persuade Owen Paterson, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to vote in favour of the EU suspension by writing to or emailing your MP now.
You can find your MPs address using the following link http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/ or click here for a website that gives an easy way to create and send an email to your MP, but you may want to copy the letter before you click.
Dear ……,
RE: UK pollinator declines and neonicotinoid pesticides
Please help to save the bees. Neonicotinoids are highly toxic to bees and other non-target insects, and a large number of published reports over the last three years have shown dire environmental effects.
On 29 April 2013 Member States will vote again on whether to suspend the neonicotinoid pesticides clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiametoxam. The intention is to ban use on crops which are ‘attractive to bees’ such as oilseed rape and maize and on seeds which would be sown in the summer, to avoid poisoning from dust clouds. These pesticides are damaging bee populations across Britain and Europe, as evidenced by the EFSA report and evidence given by the Buglife to the Environmental Audit Committee.
Please ask Owen Paterson, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to stand with the majority of other EU member states and to vote in favour of a suspension.
Yours sincerely
