Transcript, oral evidence presented to the Environmental Audit Committee in the UK

HOUSE OF COMMONS
ORAL EVIDENCE
TAKEN BEFORE THE
ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT COMMITTEE
INSECTS AND INSECTICIDES
WEDNESDAY 28 NOVEMBER 2012

The full, uncorrected transcript can be accessed here.

Excerpt:

EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES

Witnesses: Dr Mike Bushell, Principal Scientific Adviser, Syngenta, Dr Fraser Lewis, Division Head, Environmental Safety, Syngenta, and Dr Julian Little, Government Affairs, Bayer CropScience, gave evidence.

Q154 Chair: I would like to welcome each of you to our session this afternoon, an inquiry that is important to this Select Committee and one that I think is of great interest to many people. For your information, we are expecting votes at 4 pm and we have three separate sessions, so we have a number of detailed questions that we wish to ask of you, if we may.

I would like to start off with a question particularly for Dr Lewis and Dr Bushell. I am referring to today’s Farmers Weekly and the quote, “Based on previous statements, we believe this committee”-the Environmental Audit Committee-“is in danger of pinpointing the bee colony decline on a single pesticide when there are other important factors at play.” On what evidence did you feel compelled to make that statement?

Dr Bushell: That statement was made by one of our Basel corporate affairs people.

Q155 Chair: Do you have the evidence for it?

Dr Bushell: That we made the statement or that you are focusing only on insecticides?

Chair: I wondered what evidence you have to cause Syngenta to make that statement.

Dr Bushell: The issue about bee health is multifactorial, as I am sure you know, and focusing only on a single one is unlikely to get a good result for bee health.

Chair: Thank you very much indeed. We must move on to detailed questions.

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