Read on Twitter
As a few people have been in touch asking about this story, here’s my take. It is in fact a rather elegant example of how “journalists” such as Monbiot take an issue and distort and warp it until it bears no resemblance to reality to suit their own agenda. I’ll explain… 1/ https://twitter.com/johanntasker/status/1337511300608495616
The core of the claim being made is that there is some shadowy lobbying going on to lower standards post-Brexit. As we feared, it goes, businesses are taking the opportunity of leaving the EU to lower standards. BUT, a cursory glance at the facts demonstrates this to be false 2/
What we actually have is quite a specific, and limited, application for a derogation from the ban on neonicotinoids. A derogation under EU law. A derogation for a single year. A derogation that has already been allowed elsewhere in the EU. 3/ https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-france-sugar-pesticides/france-to-ease-pesticide-ban-for-sugar-beet-to-curb-crop-losses-idUKKCN2521OO
Now I appreciate that some will not agree with the application, and will argue that the derogation shouldn’t be granted. Fine - although I encourage you to understand the limited nature of the application and the impact the ban is having on growers 4/ https://www.nfuonline.com/sectors/nfu-sugar/nfu-sugar-news/nfu-position-on-current-sugar-beet-emergency-use-of-neonicotinoid-application/
But that is a separate argument for another place. What is quite obvious from a cursory glance at the facts is that this issue has nothing to do with using Brexit to lower standards as Monbiot (and others) claim. /5
This application is governed entirely by EU law (Art 53 of Ref 1107/2009 to be precise) and is temporary, limited to a single year. Frankly any journalist interested in the truth could have worked that out by spending a minute looking at the detail 6/ https://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/pesticides/authorisation_of_ppp_en
Neither is the application for the derogation somehow secret. Its public (and indeed NFU Sugar’s attitude to the neonic ban is well established and open). The application was reported on some weeks ago 7/ https://www.fginsight.com/news/news/sugar-industry-applies-for-emergency-use-of-neonicotinoid-seed-treatment-114691
Despite this, there is an attempt to suddenly frame this as a “gotcha!” no doubt to capitalise on the current Brexit uncertainty and to sensationalise the non-story, amplified further by casting aspersions on the suggestion not to publicise the letter supporting the derogation 8/
I mean, who’d have thought farmers might be sceptical that doing so would mean some people totally misrepresent a nuanced and technical issue to further their own agenda? Why on earth would they think that might ever happen..!? 9/
Bottom line, this should be a salutary lesson to those who believe people like Monbiot are accomplished investigative journalists, committed to detail and the truth. Don’t believe everything you read, wherever it comes from. /end
POSTSCRIPT - most farmers in the UK use pesticides (even, sometimes, organic farmers). Equating pesticide use to lower standards is simplistic and wrong. There is a legitimate debate about how to reduce pesticide use, and how we can balance the benefits while mitigating the risks
The key is to have pesticides used responsibly, only where necessary, minimising risk and as part of an integrated pest management approach. The derogation in this instance seeks to do precisely that while protecting farmer’s livelihoods.
