Have signed the petition. :-)

Me too.

And me, it shouldn't even be considered, Derek.

Just submitted my name too ...

Thanks all hope lots of folk sign - this is insane!

Just signed. Hope everyone on this site does too or we may not have any flowers or veg in the future.

Quite Cammomile!

If anyone is in doubt about the merits(?) of neonicotinoids, Matt Shardlow's blog at http://www.buglife.org.uk/blog/matt-shardlow-ceo/drugs-neonicotinoids-don’t-work-2 is well worth a read.

Matt points out that there is no reliable evidence that they increase yields.

Petition signed.

I'm going to sign the the petition when I've finished writing this MG. This is very important as I saw a TV program once and some professor stated that if all the bees became extinct they wouldn't pollinate flowers and it wouldn't take many years for us to suffer greatly with a possibility that we could also become extinct.

It doesn't surprise me that Cameron and his cronies are to decide whether to allow this, Syngenta is a very large company with lots of money at stake and I'm sure that political donations, etc, would have been discussed.

also signed it.
I also commented that Cameron needs to watch the Bee Movie cartoon with his kids. he might get the idea why food security is needed !

Just signed too. I lobbied my MP last time and he wasn't interested - said it was not proven...

Signed

Just signed it Mg, its a no-brainer isn't it...

Thank you all hope even more folk sign!

I've signed the petition too.

The vote was won in Europe, we rarely get our own way with anything else so lets hope the powers that be listen this time........

I've signed it and encouraged others to do so on my Facebook page.

Signed!

Well done Andrew, I spent ages trying to post a link but couldn't get it to work on my pages..

I will send a open letter to his website Forum. Myron you're absolutely right. Most people do not realize how much the survival of the human race depends upon the bee to quote," The bees place in our world is important beyond our understanding."

I've signed it.
However, I don't know if it went through.
When I clicked on 'submit' it took me to a page where it wanted me to give a donation .... it didn't say that my message had been accepted or anything, like other sites do -
So I hope it went through.

It seems to do that Hywel but I got an email to confirm I'd signed. I put out on my FB page so we are all spreading the word!

Thanks. I'll have a look at me emails ...

I've had a look, and yes, I've received a confirmation email ... I'm happy now lol :)

Have signed and forwarded to lots of people. By the way did anyone watch countryfile last week (or was it the week before?) where they discussed the pesticide ban in relation to the bee population in the UK and rest of Europe and its effects? Interesting.

Signed. Am astonished at their arogance (and idiocy).

They needed 200,000 people to sign the petition and over 210,000 have signed already. They are going to "Swarm Downing Street" on Tuesday morning to lobby the PM.

Yup, wish I could be there but a long way to travel...

I can hear it now: " We fully understand the public's concern and to be sure we will continue to look very closely into this matter and if need be action will be taken." Thereupon the politician will appoint a special oversight bureau specific to the problem which he will staff with political cronies and those that have invested great sums to his political success. My comments are general a not specific to any country. A two year ban? The only advantage to that is that it gives the company and it's lobbyist's enough time to muddy up the waters.

So what else can we do Loosestrife?

Unbelievably, Syngenta says on it's web site "Dedicated to our purpose: Bringing plant potential to life". This is quite a ludicrous statement to make if they kill the bees... No bees, no pollination, no plant potential. I think the only dedication they have is the interest in making money.

Each and every individual must be informed and made aware that they will be adversely affected by this insecticide on a personal basis. They must not only be told that bees will be damaged but also YOU WILL BE HARMED. When the general public is told that adversity will come upon them on an individual basis, personally, right in their own home, each and every person starts to listen. Then on Tuesday you would not have thousands showing their concern you would have millions. If I were a newspaper publisher and placed a headline,"Honeybee population drops 30% in the last two years" I know very few would read beyond the headline. But with a headline like " Honeybee Population Drop in the UK Could Spell Trouble For Each and Every Person." well, I know my readers are going to follow through on this article. Perhaps the fix will be in this Tuesday but this concern must continue and not forgotten as some expect and hope it will.
Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring was able to do what I have described above in the USA. She was able to show how insecticides,their unregulated use and inadequate studies on how they affect the ecosystem would harm every American on an individual basis. Americans by the millions came to support her cause and this lead to a ban on DDT and the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency. There is so much more to Rachel Carson and her life and the benefits derived from her crusade that I suggest that every person concerned inform themselves of her and just by doing that you will know what else you can do.

Bulba and I read Rachel's book many years ago and this is why we've always grown organically as far as we possibly could.

Sygenta have withdrawn their application.

Great News! It is a beautiful thing to have the people speak in such numbers that the powers that be not only listen but take action or in this case inaction. On the down side the reason why they withdrew the application was that it was too late in the growing season to provide the pesticide this year to the farmers -at least that is their excuse for withdrawal . Sygenta intends to submit another application for use of the pesticide in 2015. If, as they hope for, most will neglect this issue in a years time, they certainly will submit again. It's not over but this window of time can be utilized to establish rules and policy which would prevent this company or any other company from submitting an application for a bee killing-pollinator- pesticide ever again.

For now, at least, we have won Loosestrife - Sygenta are unlikely to be giving the real reason why they withdrew the application.

I can't see that 'too late in the growing season' would be a reason - they wanted the ban overturned. That would affect future years not just this year. They will wait until the UK withdraws from the EU (because it's looking likely that is how a referendum will go now) and we are no longer bound by the sensible bits of EU legislation.

Ever noticed how little we hear about the good that the EU does?

I agree Urbanite gawd help us I do not want an indie Scotland but at least Salmond wants to stay in the EEC!

And President Salmond?

Well if Scotland gets independence they won't be in the EU, they will have to renegotiate membership which they probably wont get. Imagine having to apply for a work visa to work in an EU member country. :o(

Completely off the gardening but an independent Scotland would get into the EU, and it would probably be accepted that they are there of right. But even if they have to apply they will get in - no economic problems, no human rights issues & only English Tories voting against them.

So how will they afford to pay their contribution to the EU?

According to Jose Manuel Barroso, who is the president of the European Commission, It would be "extremely difficult, if not impossible" for an independent Scotland to get the necessary approval from the member states for it to join the European Union. An independent Scotland would have to apply for EU membership and get the approval of ALL current member states.

Scotland will be a new country, a new state, coming out of a current member state, it will have to apply and the application and the accession to the European Union will have to be approved by ALL the other member states of the European Union.

Spain doesn't even recognition Kosovo for instance. So it is to some extent a similar case because it's a new country