A restatement of recent advances in the natural science evidence base concerning neonicotinoid insecticides and insect pollinators

1Neonicotinoid insecticides were introduced in the 1990s and their market share quickly expanded to approximately a third of the global insecticide total by value. They are used in different ways, but particularly as seed treatments where the chemical is absorbed by the growing plant and is distributed through all tissues at concentrations that can kill insect herbivores. However, neonicotinoids are also translocated to nectar and pollen where they can be consumed by pollinating insects. Numbers of pollinators have declined in agricultural landscapes and there is concern that the introduction and widespread use of neonicotinoids is partly responsible.

2In December 2013, the European Union (EU) instigated partial restrictions on the use of neonicotinoid insecticides on crops that might be used as food by pollinating insects. This move is strongly opposed by many in the farming community and there has been a vigorous debate focusing on the scientific evidence that neonicotinoids harm pollinators, as well as the environmental and economic costs and benefits of the restrictions.

3To try to assist the debate we produced a ‘restatement’ of the underlying natural science evidence base in a form that was intended to be accessible to informed but not expert policymakers and stakeholders. Our avowed aim was to be as policy-neutral as possible while acknowledging that perfect neutrality is never achievable. The restatement was published as an appendix to a short paper in this journal accompanied by an extensive annotated bibliography as the electronic supplementary material.

4Since the restatement was published the debate about restricting neonicotinoid use has continued unabated. Farming organizations have successfully applied for ‘120-day derogations’ from the restrictions in several European countries (see electronic supplementary material, paragraph A.2) on the grounds of lack of alternative pest-management options, moves that have been criticized by environmental non-governmental organizations. The EU is committed to review the restrictions in 2015–2016 and through the independent European Food Safety Authority opened a call for evidence (closing 30 September 2015; http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/data/call/150522). Much new research has been published on the topic (we review over 80 studies here) including the largest replicated field study to date.

5Despite the relatively short time since the restatement was published we provide here an update in the same format. We do this (i) because of the significant advances in the science; (ii) because of the continuing need for policy-neutral evidence summaries in this highly contested area, especially in the run up to the review of the EU restrictions; and (iii) in response to a request to do so by the UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser.

6The literature on pollinators and neonicotinoids published since our restatement was completed was reviewed and a first draft evidence summary produced by a subset of the authors. All authors reviewed and revised the document, and agreed on the categorizing of the different evidence components using the same scheme we adopted earlier, and which is explained in paragraph A2 of the restatement update (appendix A). The second draft was sent to a series of stakeholders or stakeholder groups including scientists involved in pollinator research, representatives of the farming and agrochemical industries, non-governmental organizations concerned with the environment and conservation, and UK government departments and statutory bodies responsible for pollinator policy. The document was revised in the light of much helpful feedback from over 40 stakeholders (see acknowledgements). Though many groups were consulted, the project was conducted completely independent of any stakeholder and was funded by the Oxford Martin School (part of the University of Oxford).

7The update to the restatement of the natural science evidence base concerning neonicotinoid insecticides and insect pollinators is given in appendix A, with an annotated bibliography provided as the electronic supplementary material.

8The new evidence and evidence syntheses that have been published in the last 18 months (between February 2014 and August 2015) significantly advance our understanding of the effects of neonicotinoids on insect pollinators. Nevertheless, major gaps in our understanding remain, and different policy conclusions can be drawn depending on the weight one accords to important (but not definitive) science findings and the weightings given to the economic and other interests of different stakeholders. The natural science evidence base places constraints on policies that claim to be consistent with the science, but does not specify a single course of action.

9We also raise an issue here that arises from our original study but is not directly relevant to the evidence base on the effects of neonicotinoids on pollinators. In introducing the subject we wrote ‘Neonicotinoid insecticides are a highly effective tool to reduce crop yield losses due to insect pests’, and in the restatement itself listed a small number of papers in the scientific literature to support this statement. It has been pointed out that some of these papers were funded by industry and that there are other studies that have recorded no benefits of neonicotinoid use (e.g.).

10The efficacy of neonicotinoids is clearly an important issue, and we believe few would doubt that in some circumstances (combinations of crops, pests and locales) they are highly effective and in other circumstances they do not justify the costs of their purchase. We did not attempt to review this subject and should have been more careful to say we were not commenting on efficacy per se.

11Though a meta-analysis of efficacy would be very informative it would also be very difficult. Efficacy studies are largely conducted by industry, the sector that benefits most from the data, and are not the type of science usually funded by public organizations. Typically, the studies are not published in the peer-reviewed literature (though they are often made available to regulators) and some are kept confidential for commercial reasons. Efficacy trials are expensive and it seems unlikely that they will ever be publicly funded at scale. It is an interesting topic for debate whether industry would benefit in the long run from placing more of its data in the public domain as well as putting in place measures to increase public confidence in studies they fund themselves. The recent movement in the pharmaceutical sector to set up trial registries (see https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/home and https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu) provides a model for how the latter might be achieved.