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The state of our rivers

It is my understanding that 'Emergency Authorisations' for Cruiser SB (thiamethoxam) have been granted to countries including Bulgaria, Lithuania, Hungary, Finland, Latvia, Romania and Estonia since the product was withdrawn in 2018. Obviously these emergency authorisations quite rightly have to take account of local factors such as hydrology, soil characteristics etc.

In the UK an application for 'emergency use' was made in 2018. This was rejected by the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides on the grounds that it would “cause unacceptable effects to bees in following crops and flowering plants in field margins and to birds and mammals eating seedlings from treated seed and birds consuming pelleted seed” and that "in some soil types the highest concentrations of thiamethoxam and clothianidin in surface waters were assessed as adversely impacting populations of aquatic insects". See here: ECP Advice Neonicatinoid Sugarbeet Emergency Authorisation July 2018 (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Unfortunately the 2020 application and subsequent ECP advice is not in the public domain. Defra (see below) have announced that the requirement of the exemption is that users "must try to prevent harm to bees and other pollinators by destroying flowers ‘in and around sugar beet crops". That really doesn't sound good to me, but in the absence of any published guidance it is difficult to know how this will work in practice. Nothing has been said on how they propose to mitigate against thiamethoxam leaching into the same eastern rivers (the majority of UK sugar beat production occurs in the eastern arable counties) where damaging quantities of thiamethoxam were previously recorded.

Statement on the decision to issue – with strict conditions – emergency authorisation to use a product containing a neonicotinoid to treat sugar beet seed in 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)



 
Be interesting to see how it develops Joe, it’s such a well known issue in the public mind. It’s quite a good test case for seeing what the government will do, or rather try to do and how public pressure will affect that. My personal hope and belief, is without the EU as a wizard of Oz to use or blame that they will be more directly accountable to the public, less of this “were in line with EU directives” which is code for doing the bare minimum.
 
Stephen Crowhurst said:
Be interesting to see how it develops Joe, it’s such a well known issue in the public mind. It’s quite a good test case for seeing what the government will do, or rather try to do and how public pressure will affect that. My personal hope and belief, is without the EU as a wizard of Oz to use or blame that they will be more directly accountable to the public, less of this “were in line with EU directives” which is code for doing the bare minimum.
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Agreed. Without doubt Defra have been very adept at blaming the EU commission for its own failings, as you say they have nowhere to hide now.
 
Damian Kimmins said:
petition.parliament.uk

Archived Petition: Ban ‘permitted discharge’ of foul water into rivers

Stop utility companies from being able to discharge foul water into the rivers, other than in the infrequent times of heavy rainstorms.
petition.parliament.uk petition.parliament.uk

Due to be debated on Wednesday I understand!
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Due to be debated on Wednesday I understand!
[/QUOTE]
It is Damian. Here's the link for those interested.
MPs will debate discharges into rivers this Wednesday 13 January in Westminster Hall.

This will be a general debate. General debates allow MPs to debate important issues, however they do not end in a vote nor can they change the law.

The debate will start at 11.30am and last for 30 minutes.

Watch the debate: https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/49c75032-67f4-4cd7-b55e-e72af195b568
 
Richard Parsons said:
Yes, saw this, Joe. It's disgusting - and could only happen in a post-Brexit UK. What do all the Brexiteers think now?
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It would be surprising if all who voted for Brexit had the rivers anywhere on their agenda, let alone at the top. Equally true for remainers as most people saw bigger issues at stake than angling.
 
Alex Gowney said:
It would be surprising if all who voted for Brexit had the rivers anywhere on their agenda, let alone at the top. Equally true for remainers as most people saw bigger issues at stake than angling.
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I think after nearly five years it’s probably time to realise that choosing whether it was in the nations best interests to be in or out the European Union isn’t directly linked to every waking thought or choice.

There’s some very loud people out there that wish too make it a black and white thing but the truth is most people are perfectly sane and made a decision based on a multitude of issues and landed either side of that choice.

In light of a recent thread I will leave it there but I honestly believe, especially over the last four odd years that the vast majority of people feel the same or similar about things but simply have different priorities and conclusions. It’s really not something to poke at and maybe if more listening had gone on we would be in a better place.
 
Does anyone understand the idea that our environment might be in a better place if we have that little bit less!
I am rather looking forward to not having everything whenever it is needed and doing a bit of retuning myself and perhaps ourselves into the natural way of things!
 
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