Environmental groups and farmers are waiting to hear whether a toxic neonicotinoid, thiamethoxam, will be approved by the government for English sugar beet farms for a fourth consecutive year.

I mean, all pesticides are toxic. That’s what a pesticide is – something toxic to the pest, while not being an issue for humans. You aren’t going to avoid that unless you just want to swear off pesticides entirely.

Gareth Morgan, the head of farming at the Soil Association, said: “Year after year this failure to help farmers has led to the suspension of the so-called ban on these bee-harming pesticides. With so much of British wildlife in decline, it is critical that the government stops kicking the can down the road on this issue. Organic and agro-ecological farmers are proving that food can be produced without pesticides. Government must act now to help all farmers switch to nature-friendly practices across their entire farms. We must stop simply reaching for another toxic solution.”

…which I guess that guy does, but I think that that’s probably not going to be a consesus position.

At 55% of these 29 sites one or more neonicotinoids were above the EU’s proposed environmental quality standard (EQS) – the level deemed safe for aquatic wildlife.

So this is unsafe as defined by (a) an EU standard which (b) is not actually in force even in the EU.