Updated at 12.45pm
European Union countries backed a proposal on Friday to ban all use outdoors of insecticides known as neonicotinoids that studies have shown can harm bees.
The ban, championed by environmental activists, covers the use of three active substances: imidacloprid developed by Bayer CropScience, clothianidin developed by Takeda Chemical Industries and Bayer CropScience as well as Syngenta's thiamethoxam.
"All outdoor uses will be banned and the neonicotinoids in question will only be allowed in permanent greenhouses where exposure of bees is not expected," the European Commission said in a statement.
Bayer called the ban "a sad day for farmers and a bad deal for Europe" and said it would not help bees. Many farmers, it said, had no other way of controlling pests and that the result was more spraying and a return to older, less effective chemicals.
The use of neonicotinoids in the European Union has been restricted to certain crops since 2013, but environmental groups have called for a total ban and sparked a debate across the continent about the wider use of chemicals in farming.
Campaign group Friends of the Earth described the decision of EU governments a "tremendous victory" for bees and for the environment.
"The European Commission must now focus on developing a strong pollinator initiative that boosts bee-friendly habitat and helps farmers cut pesticide-use," it said.
Positive reaction locally
Martin Galea De Giovanni, the director of Friends of the Earth Malta, commended the Maltese authority’s support for the ban, but hopes that this will not mark the end of the initiative.
We take bees and other pollinating creatures for granted at our peril
FoE Malta is proposing that government draws up a national strategy or action plan for bees and pollinators linked to biodiversity and climate change actions, food security and farming initiatives and rural and urban development
plans. This is already available in other European countries including the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Wales, all Ireland, France and Norway.
Moreover, on a European level Friends of the Earth groups in Europe are calling for an overhaul of the EU’s food and farming system to make it less dependent on pesticides, via a concrete pollinator strategy and a radical change to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The European Commission is expected to issue its proposals for CAP reform on May 31.
"Our lives would be poorer in many ways in a world without bees. We take bees and other pollinating creatures for granted at our peril. They are vital for a resilient, thriving natural environment and for stable, healthy food supplies including the varied, colourful and nutritious diets we have come to expect," he said.