Netherlands to Step Up Checks of Pesticides Linked to Bee Deaths

The Netherlands will step up checks on the use of insecticides that have been linked to bee deaths after rules for their application were tightened, the country’s food-safety regulator said.

The regulator will monitor so-called neonicotinoid insecticides, which are used in flower-bulb production, the Food & Consumer Product Safety Authority wrote in a statement on its website today.

Bulbs treated with neonicotinoids are not allowed to flower in the open field, while application on plants is only permitted when flower buds are not yet visible, the authority said. Flowers and buds attract bees, it said.

“Instructions on the use of these products have been tightened because of possible damaging effects in particular to the bees,” the food-safety authority wrote.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at rruitenberg@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net