The Government has refused to allow the emergency use of a banned pesticide on sugar beet to protect bees and other pollinators.
The application to use the pesticide had been made by British Sugar and the National Farmers’ Union, as a seed treatment for sugar beet to protect against aphids that carry yellows virus – which can damage the crop.
But Environment Minister Emma Hardy decided not to grant the authorisation for emergency use of Cruiser SB, which contains the bee-killing neonicotinoid thiamethoxam prohibited since 2018 – the first time in five years the application has been turned down.
The Government said the decision was made on robust assessments of environmental, health and economic risks and benefits, with advice from Defra’s chief scientific adviser and its economists, the Health and Safety Executive and the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides.
This government is committed to protecting bees from toxic neonicotinoid pesticides, while working with our farmers to find new ways to protect crops
In its decision, the Government said lethal and harmful risks the chemical could pose to honeybees and other pollinators could not be ruled out.
Levels of yellows virus are not expected to be as high as they have been in some years, and even under the “reasonable worst-case scenario” the vast majority of growers were not expected to suffer significant financial impacts in 2025, the Environment Department (Defra) said.
The move comes after the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) watchdog last month announced the Government may have failed to comply with environmental laws when it granted use of the neonicotinoid on sugar beet seeds in 2023 and 2024.
And just before Christmas, the new Labour Government set out plans to entirely end the use of three pesticides that are lethally toxic to bees and other vital pollinators, including thiamethoxam.
Ms Hardy said: “Britain is currently one of the most nature depleted countries in the world.
“This Government is committed to protecting bees from toxic neonicotinoid pesticides, while working with our farmers to find new ways to protect crops and support a profitable farming sector.
“We recognise the threat that virus yellows can pose to sugar beet growers, and we will continue to support industry to develop alternatives to neonicotinoids on sugar beet that are effective at high levels of yellows virus infection.”
There is simply no place in modern sustainable agriculture for highly toxic pesticides that kill bees and poison soils and rivers
Conservationists said they were “delighted” with the decision.
Joan Edwards, director of policy and public affairs at The Wildlife Trusts, said: “There is simply no place in modern sustainable agriculture for highly toxic pesticides that kill bees and poison soils and rivers.”
And she said: “Many farmers across England have already turned their backs on these devastating chemicals.
“It’s time for British Sugar to take greater responsibility, and pay growers a fair price for producing beets without neonicotinoids,” she urged, as she also called for the chemicals to be removed from pet flea treatments which end up polluting rivers.
British Sugar’s agricultural director Dan Green said the decision was disappointing, and assured growers that virus yellows control remained the highest priority research areas in the UK beet sector.
“This includes working with plant breeders to improve natural resistance in the crop, on-farm techniques and grower practices, and research into gene editing,” he said.
He also said the industry had written to Defra to seek immediate support with a virus yellows resilience package to mitigate any threat posed by a bad year for the disease this year, and help progress on tackling it.
And he warned the decision put the UK in conflict with its trade policy.
“There is continued tariff free access to the UK market for sugar which has been grown with neonicotinoid plant protection products, undermining our homegrown industry and British sugar beet growers,” he said.
