Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policy of the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides advice against allowing the use of thiamethoxam.

In making the decision, the Minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries gave careful consideration to the advice provided by the Health and Safety Executive, the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides, Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser and Defra economists. He considered the identified risks and benefits in the light of the legal requirements for emergency authorisation and decided that there are special circumstances which made the limited and controlled emergency authorisation necessary because of a danger that cannot be contained by any other reasonable means.