Ban pesticides to save bees, MPs urge It said that a moratorium on the use of three neonicotinoid pesticides on crops such as oil seed rape, which is one of the main crops that bees feed on, should be introduced by the beginning of 2014. The pesticides should be immediately banned from use in private gardens and golf courses to create "an urban safe haven for bees," the committee added. Joan Walley, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee and Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, said: "Defra (the Department for Farming, Rural Affairs and Agriculture) seems to be taking an extraordinarily complacent approach to protecting bees given the vital free service that pollinators provide to our economy. If farmers had to pollinate fruit and vegetables without the help of insects it would cost hundreds of millions of pounds and we would all be stung by rising food prices. There is no justification for people continuing to use these products on their Dahlias when they could be having a detrimental effect on pollinator populations. Banning the sale of neonicotinoids for domestic use would at least create an urban safe haven for bees. The report identifies three pesticides - imidacloprid, clothianidin and TMX - that should be suspended from use. However, Defra's chief scientific adviser Professor Ian Boyd said that there was still too little conclusive evidence showing that they were having an impact on bee numbers in the field. He said laboratory studies clearly showed that the pesticides could kill bees, but the affect they have when diluted in the environment was far less clear. Defra has been reluctant to ban the pesticides as such a move would introduce other costs for farmers as they face increased problems with pests and reduced yields. A spokesman for Defra said: "Decisions on neonicotinoids must be based on sound scientific evidence. That's why we want the European Commission to agree to our suggestion for a major new field study to get the best, most up-to-date evidence. That will allow informed decision-making, rather than rushing into a knee-jerk ban based on inconclusive studies. Syngenta, an agrochemical firm that makes neonicotinoids, said the new report failed to reflect the evidence. A spokesman said: "The decline in bee health is one of the biggest challenges facing agriculture. Syngenta remains committed to fully understanding and improving bee health. The easy option is to call for a ban on neonicotinoids in the hope that it will improve bee health. The long-term, real world, scientific reality is that a ban wouldn't save a single hive, but it would create significant environmental, agronomic and economic challenges. Professor Simon Potts, a bee expert from the University of Reading, said, however, that pesticides could be replaced with biological pest control to protect food crops.