Friends of the Earth ramp up pressure on Bunnings

Earlier this week representatives of Friends of the Earth delivered an 18,000 signature petition to Bunnings/Homebase, dressed as bees outside their store in Wandsworth, urging them to stop selling flowering plants grown with neonicotinoid pesticides.

After B&Q became the first retailer to ban plants treated with the bee harming chemical in May of this year, other retailers have followed and in August Friends of the Earth confirmed that 9 out of the top 10 major UK retailers, with the exception of Bunnings/Homebase had agreed to follow the ban.

At the time of publication of this news story Bunnings/Homebase had yet to commit to working with suppliers to end the use of these chemicals.

There's now an update to this news story, dated 16th November 2017.

Homebase commit to phase out neonicotinoids by end of 2018.

Last week, the UK government confirmed that it would be backing tougher restrictions on these chemicals which are harmful to bees.

Welcoming Michael Gove’s decision to back tougher restrictions on bee-harming pesticides, Friends of the Earth’s chief executive Craig Bennett said: “Michael Gove is to be congratulated for listening to the experts.  The scientific evidence for a complete ban on bee-harming pesticides is now overwhelming.

“Tougher restrictions on neonicotinoids are essential for our precious bees and the wider environment – and a significant victory for the public and supporters of organisations like Friends of the Earth who have called for tougher action on these chemicals.

“To their credit farmers across the UK are already finding innovative ways to successfully grow crops without neonicotinoids, even ahead of the ban being extended.

“But lessons also need to be learned – we now need to move away from chemical intensive farming and instead boost support for less damaging ways of tackling persistent weeds and pests.

“The UK must follow through on today’s announcement by backing current European Commission proposals to get these pesticides completely out of our fields.”

Source: Insight Team.

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