July 27, 2018

Today, Bayer has announced it will appeal against a recent General Court verdict on neonicotinoids which backed the partial EU ban on three bee-harming pesticides from 2013. This move comes after an almost complete ban on three major neonicotinoid insecticides was decided in April this year due to the risk that imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam pose to bees.

In response to Bayer’s move to appeal the decision, Wiebke Schroeder, Campaign Manager at SumOfUs, issued the following statement:

“Bayer’s relentless attack on bees and other pollinators has no end. The company’s decision to appeal a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice upholding a ban on bee-killing neonic insecticides is alarming. If Bayer wins, it it could wreck the recent and historic progress we’ve made for the bees.

“Chemical giants like Bayer think that they can bulldoze over the EU’s decision by tying it up in expensive legal action. SumOfUs members around the world will use all their power to help defeat this latest attack on the bees like they’ve done time and time again.

“Bees are vital to our food supply -- providing one of every three bites of food we eat. But bees and other pollinators are declining at catastrophic rates and neonic pesticides are a key culprit. That’s why maintaining the EU’s ban on neonics is so important.  ”

In the last years, more than 1.4 million people have joined with SumOfUs in urging Bayer, and other chemical companies, to drop their lawsuit against the European Commission’s ban on three major neonicotinoids.

# # # # #