Syngenta Withdraws Special Use Request for Neonicotinoids in Europe
9 July 2014
Oilseed rape grows near the Pewsey White Horse geoglyph cut into the hills east of Bristol, England. Photo credit: Flickr user Angel Ganev. Creative Commons license.
Syngenta no longer requests that its neonicotinoid product Cruiser be exempt from the EU’s neonicotinoid chemical ban, according to a story in the UK’s Farmers Guardian. The company has withdrawn the request it made in June because the government was taking too long to make a decision on whether to approve it, and thereby missing a crucial timing for application. Crops that are planted early would have needed to be sprayed at the end of the month, making any exemption granted by the UK’s Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) ineffective.
Farmers will have reduced access to treated rapeseeds this season. Syngenta noted that because of this, it is an ideal year for the UK government to conduct its planned audit of the crop so that the effects of lack of its crop inputs might be more easily studied.
Syngenta will likely reapply for an exemption next year.
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