It's a bee-mergency! We'd like you to sign this letter today...
We all have our mind on global catastrophes at the moment – which makes it very easy not to see what’s happening under our very noses.
The government recently reversed a ban on a particular neonicotinoid pesticide which kills bees. We depend on bees for pollination of food crops, not simply for beeswax, honey, propolis and more. This is really serious stuff, and it happened while people were looking the other way.
So on behalf of all-important pollinators, we invite you to add your own support to a letter which is to be delivered by Neal’s Yard Remedies to our Prime Minister tomorrow, 11th March 2022. NYR have already done a huge amount to support bee populations and beekeepers asking Boris Johnson to overturn this potentially disastrous environmental decision which potentially impacts our very food security (at a time when it’s looking shaky for other reasons, too).
Beauty Bible has added our name to the letter; Greenpeace are backing it (alongside their own campaign, here), as well as British Beauty Council, Sustainable Beauty Coalition, Soil Association, Marie Claire…
And NYR’s Anabel Kindersley, who’s co-ordinating the letter, will also add your name – and/or your brand’s logo, if you’re a beauty business – to the letter. She writes: ‘You can join by e-mailing here, and we will email them all the details. If you’re a company, we will add their logo on our letter, or we can add their name to our letter.’
Just so you know what you’re signing, we put the full text of NYR’s letter below…
But truly: no time to be lost… The letter’s being sent tomorrow!
It is with the utmost urgency that we write to call on you to reverse the Government’s decision to lift the ban on the bee-killing neonicotinoid, Cruiser SB (thiamethoxam), in the case of the sugar beet crop to control virus-spreading aphids.
The reintroduction of the toxic pesticide, which was prohibited under UK law in 2018 except for emergency circumstances, goes directly against the advice of Government experts who say it poses an unacceptable threat to bees and pollinators.
There is a weight of scientific evidence to show that, in addition to being destructive to pollinators, neonics also damage rivers, are harmful to people, contaminate the environment through soil and groundwater, and play a direct role in the dramatic decline of our precious bee species.
The facts are frightening but preventable with steadfast legislation that provides adequate protection to bees and pollinators, investment in nature-friendly pest management solutions and support for farmers transitioning from using neonics to sustainable alternatives.
We are incredibly concerned about the devastating effects of pesticide use on wildlife, people and the planet. In 2011, together with our partners Friends of the Earth and Plantlife UK, we delivered to No. 10 a petition signed by 117,000 that led to the ban of neonicotinoids in the UK. We continue to support bee-friendly charities and work with the Soil Association, among others, to certify our products independently.
As a collective group of environmentally conscious British brands we are doing our part, but now we are calling on the Government to implement a total ban on the use of neonicotinoids in the UK.
Ignoring the long-term effects of pesticides has grave and irreparable consequences. Furthermore, granting their use fails to meet the Government’s own legal requirement to halt species loss by 2030, as set out in the Environment Act in 2021.
The impact of the ban lift reaches further than our precious bee species; it undermines the climate emergency we are facing and corrodes our goal of becoming a net-zero, nature-positive country.’
