France Lifts Neonicotinoid Ban; Beekeepers Rage
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- French parliament approved a bill reauthorising two neonicotinoid pesticides that had previously been banned, despite warnings from scientists that the chemicals poison bees.
- France's beekeepers' union condemned the move as "scandalous, irrational and irresponsible," arguing that lifting the ban will kill bees and ultimately reduce crop harvests.
- French environmentalists joined beekeepers in reacting furiously to the vote, aligning agricultural chemical policy against ecological and farming concerns.
- The reauthorised pesticides are intended to combat a crop-ruining disease, framing the policy as a food-security measure against ecological caution.
Why it matters: The vote reverses a prior neonicotinoid ban in France — a country that under EU rules had been a holdout against the chemicals — putting beekeepers' livelihoods and pollinator-dependent crop yields on a collision course with the disease-control rationale parliament cited. Beekeepers explicitly warn the policy will backfire by killing the bees needed for harvests.
