Aldi Sud has banned neonicotinoids (Picture: Getty Images)
Aldi Sud has banned neonicotinoids (Picture: Getty Images)

Aldi has become the first major retailer in Europe to ban bee-harming pesticides from its groceries.

Supermarket Aldi Süd – the chain’s German branch – has just made it a requirement for its suppliers to phase out the toxins that are most harmful to bees, including neonicotinoids.

‘Aldi Süd shows that the toxic dependency on pesticides can be broken and in this sense becomes a pioneer in the retail sector,’ Christiane Huxdorff, ecological farming campaigner at Greenpeace Germany, said.

‘Other European supermarkets are now called upon to follow this first step.’

We rely quite heavily on bees (Picture: Getty Images)
We rely quite heavily on bees (Picture: Getty Images)

The EU has some of the most stringent rules on bee toxins in the world, but they only have a partial ban in place – limiting the use of three types of neonicotinoids and fipronil.

Many other pesticides that are poisonous to bees are still used in food production.

Why are bees such a big deal?

If bees were to die out, humanity would basically be doomed – and that’s not an exaggeration.

The neonicotinoids we use in agricultural production are a neuro-toxin that poisons bees and leaves them disoriented, unable to pollinate plants effectively, and close to death.

Unfortunately, they are used in many stages of international food production – and bees are fast dying out.

When bees are infected they transfer that illness back to their whole hive, which quickly leads to an epidemic.

Many beekepers have reported said that around 90 per cent of their bees have died.

Without bees, there would be no way of producing around 70 per cent of the food humans currently eat.

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‘Chemical pesticides are present from the field to our plate,’ Huxdorff added. ‘Supermarkets are an important part of the supply chain and have to work on non-chemical solutions together with farmers.

‘European decision-makers must act now and not only convert the partial ban on three neonicotinoids and fipronil into a full one, but broaden its scope to all pesticides threatening our bees.’

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