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| Side of temporary toilet, outside Vatican. Photo Clement Kent, CC 2.1 |
As reported in numerous sources (Guardian, BBC) the vote fell short of the required level to mandate a ban, leaving it to the Commission to decide whether to order a temporary one. Reports suggest the Commission will order a 2 year ban on the use of imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam for some uses, probably including seed treatment. During this period further studies will need to be conducted and reviewed, after which the decision will be revisited.
The "Precautionary Principle" is a relatively new generalization to the environment and public affairs of a very old idea, going back to the Hippocratic Oath's "never do harm" commitment. In medicine, this is often invoked as a reason to be very, very cautious in prescribing new, untried treatments, because the human body is so complex that only extensive tests and experience will make us reasonably certain that a treatment will not accidentally do more harm than good.
As extended to the environment, which is many times more complex than the human body and much less studied, the Precautionary Principle says that the burden of proof for those proposing to use or using the environment in new ways (e.g. new pesticides, new levels of pollution or new pollutants) should lie on the new users. That is, the default position of governments and regulatory agents should be "possibly guilty until proven innocent", just as a physician rightly insists of a new drug or surgical technique.
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| Bees, Palazzo Barberini, Rome. Photo Clement Kent CC 2.1 |
One of the earliest countries to take action on neonicotinoids was Italy, whose role I honor here with pictures of bees from the "Eternal City", Rome. France has also taken very positive steps, under pressure from the French public and beekeepers.
The European vote needs to be followed by still more research, as - surprise! - Syngenta, Bayer, and Monsanto are vigorously opposing attempts to declare neonics harmful to bees. No regulatory change has happened in Canada, where the government PMRA department involved has set itself a 2018 deadline to review evidence, but has been told by the Conservative government to cut their budget by 12%, fire scientists, and "streamline" pesticide registration. In the USA, beekeepers groups are suing the EPA to force action on neonics. In the midst of all this political turmoil, it will be very important to have clear, objective research done by farmers, beekeepers, and scientists without business ties to pesticide manufacturers nor to fringe advocacy groups.
Clement Kent, April 29 2013.
There is no evidence that Einstein ever said such a thing. Why in the world would he discuss bees anyway? There is no indication that he had any knowledge on the matter or that he wrote anything about bees. When will people put this myth to rest? It gets tiresome and it distracts from the real important issues.
ReplyDeleteDr. Moisset: please read my blog more carefully. I never said that Einstein said this - I simply posted a picture I took at the Vatican. What is important is that someone in Italy found the issue important enough to put a graphic representation of it in a very, very public spot, and used a common meme of Einstein to illustrate it.
ReplyDeleteYou objected today to one of my other posts. I hope you understand that I, like many others involved in this issue, do scholarly work and outreach work. I would never have put a picture of the outside of a toilet in one of my scholarly articles. However, in the context of European politics, where very powerful, monied interests are trying to prevent the temporary ban on neonics from continuing, I do outreach. In my experience outreach to the general public needs to be colorful and interesting. If I post two pictures of bees taken in Roma in my blog, without sanctioning wither the incorrect use of Einstein or the bloody history of the Barberini family, I think it's fair game.
Besides, how many of the readers of this blog do you think can read Italian?