UK Department Breached Environmental Law on Pesticide Use in 2023 and 2024

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs granted emergency authorisations in 2023 and 2024 that allowed farmers to use a neonicotinoid pesticide on sugar beet crops. The Office for Environmental Protection reviewed the authorisations after a complaint and concluded that environmental law was breached on four occasions.

The pesticide, sold as Cruiser SB and containing thiamethoxam, is one teaspoon of which is enough to kill 1.25 billion honeybees, according to a University of Sussex bee expert. The watchdog found that officials failed to consider impacts on protected sites and failed to understand or mitigate known risks to those sites.

The department has proposed changes to its assessment process that would require explicit consideration of potential effects on protected sites. The Office for Environmental Protection will monitor implementation of the updated process, which is scheduled to take effect by November 2026.

A Greenpeace UK official described the earlier authorisations as showing neglect that could have harmed wildlife. A ClientEarth UK official called the proposed process changes a substantial step forward. An official from the Nature Friendly Farming Network said the findings could reduce confidence among farmers already wary of government commitments to environmentally friendly practices.

The government has pledged to end emergency authorisations for three banned neonicotinoids, though it recently granted a separate authorisation for another neonicotinoid product on sugar beet.