Letter: Bees are in danger
Owen Paterson's reaction to getting 80,000 emails asking him to support an EU initiative for a partial ban on neonicotinoid pesticides is revealing.
To suggest that these didn't come from real people is wrong – they are just as real as his constituents who he says were inconvenienced.
Also, they see this issue as extremely important and it certainly is just as vital as any problem that a constituent might have.
Bees pollinate about a third of our food crops and for the last 15 years in most countries of the world there has been a drastic fall in the number of bees. Beekeepers have seen huge losses from their hives and several factors have been blamed, including more recently the pesticides called neonicotinoids.
Other countries have accepted the mounting evidence and have banned these substances already but in the UK we have a government that is dragging its feet – hence the email deluge on Mr Paterson as Environment Secretary.
The pesticides are widely used and their manufacturers are fighting a fierce rearguard action to protect their profits – but if we end up with shortages of food then all of us will be worse off and not just financially.
Is that a serious enough issue for an email?
Frank Oldaker
Shrewsbury Friends of the Earth
