Use of neonicotinoid pesticides

19.9.2016

Question for written answer E-006952-16
to the Commission
Rule 130
Joëlle Mélin (ENF)

In Regulation (EU) 2016/1355 of 9 August 2016, the Commission authorised an increase of the maximum residue levels in honey and other apiculture products of a neonicotinoid, thiacloprid, from 0.05 to 0.2 mg/kg.

The change was made in response to a complaint by Germany, which wishes to use the pesticide in spite of its impact on bee populations.

In 2014, a French apicultural society brought attention to the toxicity of three neonicotinoids, including thiacloprid, whose use had already been suspended by Brussels in 2013 after the European Food Safety Authority issued the opinion on 16 January 2013 that the three molecules, sold by the Syngenta and Bayer groups, were dangerous to bees.

Why is the Commission, instead of continuing the ban on the use of those molecules, making the maximum levels four times as high?