EU plans to pass ban on insecticides by July 1

Although the European Commission was unable to get member states to agree to a two-year ban on insecticides that may be harmful to bees this week, it announced it will try to revisit the issue again and hoped to have a ban in place by July 1.

EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg told EU agriculture ministers meeting in Brussels that he wanted to revisit the issue after the measure failed to get enough votes from national experts on a committee.

"The Commission still envisages to have measures in place" by July 1, Borg's spokesman said, adding that the issue will now go to an appeal committee after further discussions, according to AFP.com.

The Commission seeks to ban insecticides that would be used on corn, rape seed, sunflowers and cotton. In particular the Commission is most concerned over three compounds:  clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam. These compounds are in the neonicotinoid class of insecticides.

A recent report from the European Food Safety Authority claimed these insecticides posed “disturbing” risks to bees and other pollinating insects that were involved with food production.

Syngenta issued a report last month showing a ban would have devastating economic consequences for Europe.

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'Might' 'could' or would? There are great uncertainties that need to be clarified, but in the meantime, pollinators are perishing, and the 'Precautionary principle' needs to be invoked to protect further decrease in our vital insect population. If they go, the birds are next: read Rachael Carson's 'Silent Spring'.