Defra Minister David Heath on ITV
July 2013. On Thursday 18th July ITV's Tonight programme investigated the current bee and wild pollinator crisis which threatens food security. Defra Minister David Heath appeared on the programme and made a number of statements about neonicotinoid pesticides that are highly questionable.
Discounting the conclusions of over a hundred studies by independent scientists which show that neonicotinoids are an environmental risk David Heath stated "There's abundant evidence that this is a substance which is toxic in the laboratory...What we have not been able to demonstrate yet is there's any linkage between that and what you see in field conditions where you have much lower dosages than were applied in the laboratory tests".
Contradicted the opinion of the Government's own scientific advisory group
This statement contradicts the opinion of the Government's own scientific advisory group, the Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP). In the January 2013 meeting "Members commented that the laboratory and semi-laboratory studies reported in the literature represent sound science. The main questions raised were about whether the nature of the exposure was realistic, and information to date suggests the exposures were reasonable".
David Heath also stated that "Wouldn't you expect there to be some evidence after all of these trials, somebody to have gone on and said "What's actually happening in the field?" but they haven't".
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