<<Dr. Julian Little, Bayer CropScience
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22339191

"We have two controls for all of this. One is France; we've had 
massive restrictions on these products for over 10 years, have
we seen any improvement in bee health? No.>>

I wonder what these “massive restrictions”are. Restrictions on the use of which neonic, on what crop, and since when? Gaucho was withdrawn in May 2004 only to be replaced by Confidor, both Imidacloprid. 
Throughout the previous Presidency the Minister for Agriculture granted illegal 12 month licenses which every year were annulled by the courts after lengthy legal process. The following year the same thing would be repeated and of course would be, eventually, annulled again. It wasn’t until the middle of last year that Cruiser OSR was placed under restricted use by the new Minister for Agriculture, M. Stephane Le Foll.

Dr. Little continues, <<What we have been upset about is how [lab based] research [on the effect of neonicotinoids] has been put into policy. Because when you repeat it, you don't see any effect.>> 

The problem is that although Bayer and Syngenta have had more than 10 years to conduct research << with real bees, real colonies in real fields >> they have not done so and when Syngenta were invited to provide data to justify their demand that Cruiser be authorised again they were unable or unwilling to comply.
Now there will be a moratorium on all neonics from the end of this year so there will be an opportunity to see if there is an impact and perhaps the Bayer/Syngenta lobbyists will calm down until those companies come up with conclusive research << with real bees, real colonies in real fields>>.

Bil, France

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html