“Former Chief Government Scientist Professor Sir John Beddington has accused EU policymakers of misusing the precautionary principle in their approach to pesticides such as neonicotinoids.”
The UK is the fifth largest user of pesticides in the EU. Prof Beddington warned the loss of pesticide capability through regulation or crop resistance could have ‘major impact’ on food production with crop yield losses of up to 25 per cent in some cases.
The Precautionary Principle would, had it been available at the time, have prevented Homo erectus from mastering the use of fire.