Neonicotinoid seed treatment will not be used on 2021 beet crop
An emergency authorisation for the use of neonicotinoid seed treatment Cruiser SB on this year’s sugar beet crop will now not be used, after analysis of aphid populations by scientists. Three neonicotinoids (or neonics as they’re often known) were banned in the UK for outdoor use after their impacts on bees and other pollinators could no longer be denied by the agricultural industry. Cruiser SB, made by Syngenta, contains the banned neonic Thiamethoxam, a potent toxin that a 2017 report in the journal Scientific Reports said altered “honey bee activity, motor functions, and movement to light” and which was reported almost a decade ago to have “high toxicity to birds if directly consumed”.
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