A coalition of environment groups has organised for a swarm of giant bees to descend on Downing Street, as the Cabinet is set to make a pronouncement on a proposed derogation of a deeply controversial pesticide product partially banned by the EU Commission last year.   

The publicity stunt was organised by campaign groups Friends of the Earth, 38 Degrees and Buglife.

Syngenta applied in May for the government to allow 200,000 ha of oilseed rape to be grown using its Cruiser OSR product this autumn. The product's active ingredient, thiamethoxam, is one of three neonicotinoid pesticides subject to a partial ban which came into effect in December.  

A number of green groups have called on the Government to resist industry lobbying pressure and turn down the chemical company's appeal for an 'emergency' exemption.

Although Syngenta claims OSR crops will suffer if growers can’t use its products, especially in areas with high pressure from flea beetles, Friends of the Earth said a breach of the Commission's ban would weaken the EU's two-year restriction, which is intended to monitor the effects of a partial ban on pollinators, as well as undermining research into innovative alternative pest control techniques.

Critics of the pesticide industry response to the Commission's actions have pointed out that both Italy and France had restrictions of neonicotinoids in place before the EU-wide ban, without any recorded adverse effects for growers.

Friends of the Earth Nature Campaigner Paul de Zylva commented on Tuesday, "Ministers should be helping to get farmers off the chemical treadmill so they can protect their crops without relying on bee-harming chemicals."

Environment groups have been highly critical of the government for entertaining the appeal, and making a decision on the issue behind closed doors. A spokesperson for Bayer CropScience, the other pesticide manufacturer affected by the EU Commission's restrictions, told the Guardian that the company had not sought a derogation from the government because it did not expect such an appeal to succeed.