Brexit: and the Environment Secretary upsetting farmers by supporting the EU's ban on 'bee-killing' neonicotinoids - Entrepreneur Generations

Farmers were mostly for leaving the EU:
Futures Forum: Brexit/Bremain: "The majority of farmers are keen to leave the Union and all the baggage that comes with it."

And one reason was the EU's banning of pesticides such as glyphosates and neonicotinoids:
Futures Forum: Lobbying over the Roundup weedkiller >>> again >>> crunchtime: Tuesday 14th June
Futures Forum: Bees and lobbying over neonicotinoids >>> crunchtime: Wednesday 4th May

On the other hand, Environment Ministers were mostly for remaining in the EU:
Futures Forum: Brexit/Bremain: and the green economy: "Energy and environment ministers, green NGOs and sustainable businesses groups agree that remaining IN the EU is crucial for our transition to a low-carbon future."

Although the UK's current Environment Minister is not:
Futures Forum: The new Environment Secretary is "determined to protect our precious environment, support our thriving fishing industry and help our globally renowned food and farming industries grow more, sell more and export more great British food and drink."

Indeed, he's been very keen on a 'green Brexit':
Futures Forum: Brexit: and how to make a 'Green Brexit' work

Which not only farmers might be worried about, but which certain of his colleagues might question:
Futures Forum: Brexit: and Fox eating chlorinated chicken
Liam Fox reopens Cabinet rift with Michael Gove over chlorinated chicken - Telegraph

But the front page of today's Sunday Telegraph seems to avoid these contradictions:

Exclusive: Michael Gove's plan for a green revolution after Brexit

Edward Malnick 11 NOVEMBER 2017

An independent watchdog to “give the environment a voice” and “hold the powerful to account” will form the cornerstone of a “green Brexit”, the Environment Secretary discloses.

Michael Gove reveals plans to set up a “world-leading” statutory body to maintain environmental standards, together with a national policy statement that will permanently “embed” protections for land, water, air and wildlife into policy-making as Britain leaves the European Union.

The announcement, set out in an exclusive article for The Telegraph, is intended as a major concession to environmental groups and concerned MPs in a bid to head off a series of amendments to the Government’s EU Withdrawal Bill that will be debated this week.

Exclusive: Michael Gove's plan for a green revolution after Brexit

Here is that exclusive piece:
Outside the EU we will become the world-leading curator of the most precious asset of all: our planet

Indeed, a couple of days ago, the Minister showed his green credentials 
Bee-harming pesticides will be totally banned in the UK, Michael Gove says - Telegraph

- by upsetting the farming lobby:
Farmers dismayed by Gove’s support for neonicotinoid ban proposal - News - FG Insight

Because, there is a ton of contradictions over these insecticides:
Futures Forum: Bees and neonicotinoids > the latest research is ambiguous

Including divisions in the Environment Secretary's party:
Tory attempt to prevent complete EU ban on bee-killing pesticides thrown out by MEPs | The Independent

But the Minister prefers to back the EU on this:
United Kingdom joins Europe in banning bee-killing pesticides - Gears of Biz
Gove backs EU clampdown on neonicotinoids - The Courier

Meanwhile, debate over the other weedkiller glyphosate (aka Roundup) is causing farmers more grief:
UK farmers make final weed killer plea to Commission - Yorkshire Post
European farmers say glyphosate deadlock shows mistrust in EU bodies – EURACTIV.com

Because the science is not clear:
Large U.S. farm study finds no cancer link to Monsanto weedkiller - Reuters
US study finds rise in human glyphosate levels | Daily Mail Online

And so we have had another non-decision in Brussels:
EU split over use of major weedkiller glyphosate - BBC News
EU ministers fail to agree on Glyphosate license renewal, again
Glyphosate decision to go to appeal after five-year licence proposal fails - News - FG Insight


EU fails to agree licence renewal for controversial glyphosate weedkiller

Video by Méabh MCMAHON Text by NEWS WIRES Latest update : 2017-11-09

With a deadline just weeks away, the European Union failed Thursday to break a hardening stalemate on whether to renew the licence for the widely-used weedkiller glyphosate, which critics fear causes cancer.

The European Commission said it fell short of the majority needed to renew the license for five years when it expires December 15, as only half of the 28 member states voted for its proposal.

"Given that a qualified majority could not be reached ... the result of the vote is 'no opinion,'" said the commission, the EU's executive and regulatory arm.

The latest result was hailed by environmental campaigners, including those who rallied outside EU headquarters to mock US agro-food giant Monsanto, the maker of the best-selling glyphosate product Roundup.

"Today we have seen that the seventh attempt of the European Commission to renew Glyphosate has failed again," said Luis Morago, Avaaz campaign director. "Monsanto wanted 15 more years and they can't even get five."

The European Commission, which had originally recommended approving the herbicide's use for another decade, said it will now submit its proposal to an appeals committee by the end of November.

'Overwhelming pressure'

The weedkiller deadlock in the EU has dragged on since June 2016, when its previous 15-year licence expired, and an 18-month extension was granted. Thursday's vote failed to pass when experts from nine countries, including France, Belgium and Italy opposed renewal and experts from another five countries abstained.




Fourteen states voted for the proposal, including Denmark, Britain and the Netherlands, the commission said.

France's environment minister Nicolas Hulot, a celebrity green activist, said he was "proud" that France "stood firm" against a five-year renewal as it seeks to phase out the herbicide and scrap it in three years.

The European Parliament, the EU's only elected body, last month said glyphosate should be renewed only until 2022 and banned thereafter.

However, faced with growing uproar over the alleged dangers of glyphosate use, EU states balked last month at a renewal and the commission then proposed reducing the timeframe from ten years to five years.

Environmental campaigners Greenpeace and other critics are calling for an outright ban in Europe for glyphosate. Last month they handed the EU a petition signed by more than 1.3 million people backing such a move.

"Overwhelming public pressure is paying off, with a clear lack of political support to extend the licence for glyphosate," said Adrian Bebb of Friends of the Earth Europe.

Despite the result, Greenpeace expressed concern that the commission will adopt its own proposal without the backing of European governments, which it has the power to do. "The EU needs to ban it now, not in three, five or ten more years," Greenpeace EU food policy director Franziska Achterberg said.

'Politics wins, science loses'

Activists point to a 2015 study by the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer that concluded it was "probably carcinogenic".

But the European Food Safety Authority and the European Chemicals Agency both say glyphosate is unlikely to cause cancer in humans, in line with a 2016 review carried out by WHO experts and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Monsanto insists glyphosate meets the standards required to renew its European licence.

The European Crop Protection Association's spokesman Graeme Taylor said the pesticide industry found it "disappointing there is still no clear decision. "Where politics wins, science loses," he added.

However, the science itself is under debate. Members of the European Parliament last month called for the establishment of a panel to probe claims that Monsanto unduly influenced research into its weedkiller's safety.

Europe's main farmers union, the Copa-Cogeca, said before the vote there is no alternative but to renew the licence if the continent wants to maintain yields.

EU fails to agree licence renewal for controversial glyphosate weedkiller - France 24
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