A public consultation has been launched relating to a risk assessment of plant-protection products and their impact on bees.
The consultation was launched by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and relates to its draft guidance document on the risk assessment of plant-protection products and bees – honey bees, bumble bees, and solitary bees.
The EFSA is responding to a request from the European Commission to review the guidance document, first published in 2013, considering new scientific knowledge that has emerged in the meantime.
Plant-protection products
The consultation will run for 12 weeks to allow for maximum participation among interested parties.
EFSA has consulted stakeholders and member states on key aspects of the guidance update at various stages of the review process.
Interested parties are invited to submit comments on the draft document and its supplementary information via the dedicated consultation pages.
The deadline for comments is October 3, 2022.
Tiny buzzing bees
Meanwhile, in other bee news, two scientists from the UK and the US have been jointly awarded £640,000 (approximately €767,981) to build tiny robots that would stimulate the buzzing of bees.
It is hoped that understanding the buzz, and how it is created, could improve agriculture and help to understand the evolution of different types of bees and flowers.
Thousands of plants, including tomatoes, potatoes and blueberries, depend on the vibration from bees to elicit full pollen release.
Approximately half of all bee species use this type of vibration pollination; the honey bee is incapable of this.