This morning, in a long-awaited judgment, the European Court of Justice held that the appeal filed by Bayer was unfounded. The pesticide giant opposed a European ban on so-called neonicotinoids, widely used in agriculture that are very harmful for bees. The agents have a systemic effect. They penetrate into plants and insects with all the damaging consequences that can entail. For example, bees can lose their orientation skills so that they can no longer find their hive, resulting in death.
The ruling is available via this link. A press release by Greenpeace can be found here.
This is a big win for Greenpeace EU, Pesticides Action Network, Bee Life (the largest European federation of beekeepers) and Buglife. They spent years pressing for this ban and went to court with the European Commission when Bayer sought to overturn the ban on these agents in court.
The environmental organizations were represented in these proceedings by lawyer Bondine Kloostra.