Today we have a huge opportunity to save bees from killer pesticides. European governments are meeting at the EU to rethink how dangerous pesticides get approved. Together, we could persuade them to support much higher standards, that outlaw bee-killing pesticides.
The crux? Bayer and Dow’s lobbyists are doing all they can to keep their harmful chemicals on Europe’s fields.
Sign the urgent petition now, telling EU governments to make pesticide testing bee-friendly — so that far fewer pesticides will ever see the light of day.
Toxic pesticides and intensive farming are killing our bees — yet more and more pesticides keep getting approved. Now we have a chance to curb this trend.
Before the end of the year, the EU wants to improve the way it tests pesticides, to pay more attention to how they harm bees — but first European governments have to approve this plan. Together, we need to persuade our governments to radically improve the system and adopt advice from scientists that puts harm done to bees front and centre.
If we’re successful today, we could persuade representatives of European governments attending the meeting to schedule a vote on approving these higher standards by December.
Under pressure from SumOfUs members like you, the EU already trialled using these higher standards when considering three toxic neonic pesticides, which led to them being banned earlier this year. And if the EU had adopted these tighter rules earlier, bee-harming chemicals like sulfoxaflor, flupyradifurone, and cyantraniliprole would never have been passed.
Can you sign the petition calling on European Governments to improve the way the EU tests all new pesticides?
We all rely on bees to pollinate fruit, vegetables and crops. But across the world bees are in decline, putting the future health of our planet at risk.
Industrial pesticides, climate change and urbanisation are pushing bees to the brink — and unless our governments and the EU take concrete steps to save the bees, this trend shows no sign of reversing.
The current method for testing pesticides is inadequate. It ignores major ways that bees can be harmed. But unless the committee feels under pressure, it could kick this into the long grass. That’s why SumOfUs members like you are jumping into action, to tell the EU to consider the following effects of pesticides on bees:
The long term effects of pesticides on bees and their colonies
The effects of exposure to low concentrations of pesticides
The cumulative effects of exposure to multiple pesticides.
And to only approve pesticides as a last resort, when all non-chemicals options have failed
Help urge Europe’s governments to defy Bayer and Dow’s pesticide industry lobbyists, who are hell-bent on putting their profits over bee health, by signing the SumOfUs petition: