Bee campaigners have delivered a petition to Defra offices ahead of a major EU vote on Monday. The campaigners are urging Defra chief Owen Paterson to back EU Commission calls for a ban on certain uses of neonicotinoid pesticides.

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Mr Paterson will meet with other members of the European Agriculture Council on Monday for a further round of talks on neonicotinoid pesticides; the European Commission proposed to ban use of the pesticides on crops attractive to bees in January, in response to an assessment by its scientific advisory service EFSA.

However, the council has been unable to come to an agreement over measures to mitigate the threat identified by EFSA. In March, negotiations ended with a majority of 13 member states supporting a moratorium, nine states blocking the proposal and five abstentions, including the UK.   

On Wednesday, campaigners from internet pressure group 38 Degrees and insect charity Buglife attempted to present their petition, which has attracted over a quarter of a million signatures, to Defra Secretary Owen Paterson, though the North Shropshire MP declined to meet them. 38 Degrees said on its website "We wanted to meet with Owen Paterson....  We wanted to show him that by refusing to support a ban on the pesticides that are being blamed for killing our bees, he's not only going against public opinion, but science too."

One campaigner arrived dressed as a 'mountain of evidence', decorated with the titles of peer reviewed studies that have linked neonicotinoid insecticides with harmful effects on bees. The sublethal effects documented in a number of studies are not measured in current risk assessment criteria, but Buglife claims that 200 peer reviewed studies have so far demonstrated that neonicotinoids have health impacts on bees and other insects.

Defra agency Fera released its own study of the controversial pesticides' effects on colony health in late March. The study, which is one of a small number to have been carried out in the field, found no evidence that colonies were affected by the presence of neonicotinoids. However, independent experts have been highly critical of the study; they point out that all colonies, including control groups, were exposed to neonicotinoids and one variety of pesticide, thiamethoxam, was detected in the majority of tests even though its effects were not being studied by Fera.

They said the Fera study revealed the difficulties of conducting field studies on neonicotinoids, due mainly to their ubiquity; the preparations are the world's most widely used variety of insecticide.

Pesticide companies have publicly remained adamant that their products, when used correctly, do not harm bees. Nevertheless, following last month's EU vote neonicotinoid manufacturers Bayer CropScience and Syngenta released a joint action plan detailing conciliatory measures in an attempt to fend off a ban. The measures include increasing planting of wildflower margins across the EU, increasing funding for research into diseases and parasites affecting bees and introducing mandatory measures to reduce bees' exposure to neonicotinoids. Evidence from activists monitoring corporate lobbying in the EU suggests the companies have been lobbying heavily in Europe in a bid to quash the proposed ban.  

Meanwhile, bee populations continue to decline in Europe. According to Greenpeace, 80 percent of Spain's honeybees have been lost in the past few decades. Although the problems facing bees are manifold, there is a growing scientific consensus that unsustainable neonicotinoid use is contributing to this loss.

On Tuesday, the UK's Insect Pollinators Initiative (IPI) published a review studies into the pressures facing bees and other insect pollinators conducted by 40 scientists at 27 institutions. The scientists concluded that bees and other insect pollinators are under threat from land-use intensification, climate change, and the spread of alien species, diseases and exposure to pesticides. The IPI report's authors urged for decisive action and warned that "If demand for insect-pollinated crops continues to rise while pollinator number persistently fall, then crop shortages will likely follow."

Earlier this week Bulgarian minister for agriculture Ivan Stankov agreed to push for a Ban. Professor Stankov had also stood aside in earlier voting. The Bulgarian food and agriculture ministry announced on Monday that there "have been increasingly worrying signs of extinction of colonies and in 2012 mortality rose sharply." In some Eastern provinces of the country, winter bee mortality has reached 30 to 50 per cent, and in the Strandzha region in the South, it has reached 80-85 per cent.

On Friday, 38 Degrees, alongside other campaign groups calling for moves to protect insect pollinators, is hosting a March of the Beekeepers through Central London.