Bees are suffering and that is bad for all of us

1 May 2013

The Government urgently needs to introduce a Bee Action Plan to ensure that we look after our bee population
Sir, European restrictions on pesticides linked to bee decline are an important stride forward, but as your editorial (Plan Bee, Apr 30) rightly points out, we need a strategy for tackling other possible causes of falling bee numbers. Through our Bee Cause campaign we have been pushing the Government to introduce a Bee Action Plan. The campaign already has the backing of almost 180 MPs from all parties, retailers and tens of thousands of individuals. Bees are crucial for our environment and economy. Replacing bee pollination with hand pollination could cost UK farmers 1.8 billion a year. Last week David Cameron said that If we dont look after our bee populations very, very serious consequences will follow. Its time to act on this rhetoric. Andy Atkins Executive Director, Friends of the Earth Sir, The reluctance of the British Beekeepers Association to join the call for action on neonicotinoids tells us something about the complexity of this matter. They are justly worried about what comes next. There has been widespread rejoicing at the banning of pesticides without any thought of the need for other potentially financially and environmentally costly pesticides required to grow affordable food today. This debate has lacked an informed balance. It has not helped that a science-led government has lacked definitive independent research while emotional campaigns have been highly successful. No one has delved into the honey bee industrys use of pesticides to control varroa mites. We must be prepared to pay more for agricultural R&D, habitat enhancement and our groceries. Your leading article speaks volumes when it says that the battle for the bees has only just begun. Rob Yorke Abergavenny, Monmouthshire Sir, The serious problems arising from the use of pesticides in agriculture (report, Apr 30) are not limited to just one group of pesticides, the neonicotinoids. The reality is that there is a whole cocktail of pesticides used in food production. The current UK policy regarding pesticides fails to assess adequately the risks of such exposure to any species whether it be humans, bees, or other. Further, successive governments have failed to act on known risks and adverse impacts, especially on human health. There needs to be a complete policy shift away from the dependence on pesticides by utilising sustainable non-chemical farming methods. Georgina Downs UK Pesticides Campaign Chichester, W Sussex

Sir, I started keeping bees some 40 years ago, in the same garden but in a very different environment. In those days, hedge and house sparrows twittered everywhere; cuckoos arrived in May, nightingales sang at night beside the river, and grasshoppers chirruped in the grass. Then came agro-industry, and a green desert surrounds our village enormous fields, drenched with weedkiller and insecticide. The seeds and insects necessary for birdlife vanished, as did the birdsong and my honey crops. Next month I shall make my late-night stands to listen to the few nightingales that are left, but now I have to drive 50 miles to hear them. I fear that my grandchildren will never hear the sounds of a healthy summer. Alastair Lack Coombe Bissett, Wilts