The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has announced that neonicotinoid pesticides are dangerous to honey bees, and should not be used on crops that are attractive to them. The Parliament UK website quoted the Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, Joan Walley MP, as saying:

"Healthy populations of bees and other pollinators are vital for UK food production, but recent studies suggest that commonly used pesticides could be causing those populations to decline. The European Food Safety Authority has now reviewed the available evidence and concluded that neonicotinoids should only be used on crops that are not attractive to honey bees."

"Defra and the UK Advisory Committee on Pesticides have previously stressed their confidence in the safety of these products so they must now examine EFSA's risk assessment carefully before deciding whether UK farmers can continue to use these chemicals on crops, such as oilseed rape."

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