The European Commission has decided to approve a two year ban on all products containing neonicotinoid pesticides due to their potential harmful effect on bees.
The ruling came despite EU member states failing to reach a qualified majority during an Appeal Committee on Monday, with 15 of the 27 voting for and eight, including the UK, voting against. This resulted in the Commission having its hand forced in making a final decision.
A two year ban on the use of three neonicotinoid pesticides - clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiametoxam - will come into effect from December 2013.The news has come as vindication for the
hundreds of retailers, including B&Q, the Garden Centre Group and Sainsburys, who have already chosen to remove the products from their shelves, but a blow for garden supplier Bayer and Swiss chemicals company Syngenta, both producers of products containing the chemicals.
Bayer's Provado Lawn Grub Killer is its only product to contain one of the neonicotinoid chemicals, and the supplier told DIY Week that if the ban does go ahead, it will work with retailers to withdraw the product in line with the European Commission's timetable.
On the other side of the debate, campaign group Friends of the Earth are victorious, having long petitioned for garden centres to remove the products in question from their shelves. Head of campaigns Andrew Pendelton said: "Restricting the use of these pesticides could be an historic milestone on the road to recovery for these crucial pollinators."
But others have highlighted the ruling's potential pitfalls; head of the GCA Peter Burks told DIY Week: "These neonicotinoid pesticides are sophisticated chemicals, the potential now is that they'll be replaced with less sophisticated products which could potentially do more harm to bees and the environment."
Syngenta, perhaps unsurprisingly, reacted negatively to the ban, saying it had been based on "poor science", while the HTA also voiced its disappointment. Director of business development Tim Briercliffe said the chemicals posed "minimal risk under existing conditions of regulated use".
He added: "This is a worrying precedent for the future of European decision making on pesticide issues."
Read more in the May 3 issue of DIY Week magazine.