Neal’s Yard open letter urges Government to reverse decision on ‘bee-killing’ neonics

An open letter from Neal’s Yard Remedies calling for Boris Johnson to reverse the Government’s decision to lift its ban on harmful neonicotinoids has received wide support from over 50 businesses and organizations.

The letter requests an immediate reversal of the decision in January by Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, George Eustice to remove the ban on the ‘bee-killing neonicotinoid, Cruiser SB (thiamethoxam)’ for emergency use in sugar beet seed to prevent beet yellows virus.

“This 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,” the letter reads.

It adds that as well as destroying pollinators and playing a direct role in the decline of bee species, neonics are also harmful to rivers, people and the environment, and urges the Government to entirely ban on the use of neonicotinoids in the UK.

This reintroduction of the toxic pesticide … goes directly against the advice of Government experts who say it poses an unacceptable threat to bees and pollinators

“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 … As a collective of environmentally conscious British businesses and organisations, we are doing our part. Now we are calling on the Government to implement a total ban on the use of neonicotinoids in the UK.”

The letter also states granting the use of neonics fails to meet the Government’s ‘own legal requirement to halt species loss by 2030, as set out in the Environment Act in 2021’.

Anabel Kindersley, co-owner of Neal’s Yard Remedies, says the letter received an ‘overwhelmingly positive response with signatures growing from eight to over 30 in just 48 hours’. Kindersley, along with, Jayn Sterland (Sustainable Beauty Coalition chair and Weleda UK MD), Millie Kendall OBE (British Beauty Council CEO), Rob Percival (Soil Association) and Lucy Siegle (environmental writer and broadcaster) will hand-deliver the letter to Downing Street tomorrow (Friday 25 March).

The signatories are:

Neal’s Yard Remedies
Aromatherapy Associates
Balance Me
Bamford
Beauty Bible
Beauty Kitchen
Beauty Kubes
Blomma Beauty
Bloomtown
Botanicals
Bramley
British Beauty Council
Bumblebee Conservation Trust
By Sarah London
BYBI
Cultured
Daylesford Organic
Ecovia Intelligence
Evolve Organic Beauty
Forage Botanicals
Friends of the Earth
Formula Botanica
Green People
Greenpeace
Into the Wylde
Kind2
Kinn Living
Loopeco
Lush
Made For Life Organics
Marie Claire
NATRUE
Natural Products News
Nourish London
Odylique
Pai Skincare
Pestle & Mortar
Pukka
Riverford
Sheepdrove
Skin Insight
Skin & Tonic
Sofia Latif
Soil Association
Sustainable Beauty Coalition
The Body Shop
The Organic Pharmacy
The Wildlife Trusts
Therapi
UpCircle
Viridian Nutrition
Weleda
Wilder Botanics
Wildfarmed
Yeo Valley

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