Imaginary threats to bees pose actual threats to EU farmers.
Two days after Syngenta released its report on the economic benefits of neonicotinoid insecticides for EU agriculture (i.e., losing them would cost the economy of $22 billion and kill 50,000 jobs), the European Food Safety Authority came out with a hurried study, compiled in three months, that shows some hypothetical (i.e., imaginary) problems for bees. Even the EFSA acknowledges that there is a lot of uncertainty in their findings. Still, there’s a predictable call for precautionary bans — so far mostly in the EU, but soon to come to the US.
Check out Syngenta’s:
- “Plight of the Bees”
- Response to the EFSA report
- Benefits study