A French administrative court has rejected an appeal by Swiss seed giant Syngenta against a nation-wide ban on its Cruiser OSR seed treatment, which has been linked to adverse effects on insect pollinators.

After a long and well-publicised legal dispute, the French ministry of agriculture introduced a ban in late June, following the release of a number of scientific studies linking neonicotinoid pesticides including Cruiser with colony collapse disorder in bees. On 7th August the Versailles Administrative Court rejected Syngenta’s legal challenge to the ban.

Following the company’s failed legal challenge, a Syngenta spokesperson said they were “disappointed” and claimed studies by French health and safety agency ANSES and the European watchdog EFSA had both failed to conclusively identify a link between its product and the health of bee populations. However, EFSA suggested in May that current tests of agricultural chemicals may be deficient in several key areas and called for tighter regulations and stricter testing to save Europe’s dwindling pollinator populations.  

Although agchem companies have said that destruction of pollinators’ natural habitats and diseases caused and exacerbated by varroa mites are behind the decline in insect pollinators, especially bees, conservationists maintain that this is not the case. Although they admit that these factors have a large part to play in decline of certain bee species, conservationists point out that varroa mites do not affect some species of bee and other insect pollinators including butterflies, yet these species are also in decline.

Organisations including Friends of the Earth have accused pesticide companies of spreading misinformation in the debate over pesticides and pollinators, which they claim is merely to protect profits, potentially at the cost of biodiversity and the future viability of insect-pollinated crops, which account for around a third of staple food crops worldwide.

Cruiser pesticide is still legal in the UK, although environmental organisations have accused the government of inaction in addressing and preventing the effects of damaging pesticides and challenged ministers to integrate consideration for vital insect pollinators into decision making in areas including planning and agriculture.

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