Text tabled : A7-0359/2011

  David Martin (S&D), in writing. – The exact reasons of the recent increases in bee mortality are still unclear. There are several obstacles stalling the development of novel bee health products. The market in such products is relatively small compared to the other livestock sectors, and the return on investments is low. Therefore, producers of veterinary products are not interested in the development of new bee health medicines. Moreover, the current regulation of the MRL system does not ensure the proper protection of intellectual property rights, discouraging innovative producers from development. The Commission should deal with this problem in a balanced new regulation. Besides developing new medicines, prevention measures should be further examined and bee breeding programmes and gene conservation concentrating on disease and pest tolerance should be supported on a national level.