Italian corn farmers prosecuted for environmental damage after improper pesticide use killed bees

It is so hard for kindred spirits to find each other, and the ten-thousand-year bond of mutual benefit between bees and flowers is now hard to sustain. Flowers tainted with pesticides have become a fatal attraction, and for the third consecutive year, Puli in Nantou has reported a tragedy of bee corpses filling the valleys, with the prime culprit identified as the insecticide fipronil.

On the other side of the world, Italy had long ago stopped using fipronil and prohibited pesticide application during the flowering period, and even from the end of 2018 followed the European Union's lead in banning three neonicotinoid pesticides - imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam - from fields entirely. But bees still have no peace.

The purpose of restricting and banning pesticides is to maintain an environment where beneficial bees can survive, so that bees can pollinate crops. To avoid farmers accidentally falling foul of the law, using pesticides incorrectly and causing bee deaths, and to teach them to use pesticides correctly and effectively, just as one needs a driving licence to drive on the road, Italian farmers must attend classes and obtain a licence before they can buy pesticides, and every two years they must attend classes again and renew the licence.

Pesticide use harms bees, and the prosecutor accuses farmers of "committing the crime of environmental damage"

Last spring, beekeepers in Udine in northeastern Italy one after another discovered that bees were dying in large numbers, and hurriedly notified the forest guard police to investigate in the fields. A hive that should have held 60,000 bees swarming with activity was left with only 10,000 to 20,000, sparse and scattered. By estimate, more than 400 hives suffered this bee calamity, and more than 20 million bees were affected.

The beekeepers described how many bees, after going out to gather nectar and fetch water and returning to the hive, trembled all over and convulsed, and then died.

When prosecutor Viviana Del Tedesco heard of this, she launched an investigation following the evidence of the forest protection team, and prosecuted 38 farmers, accusing them of "committing the crime of environmental damage." Under the supplementary provisions of Article 452 of the Italian Criminal Code, endangering air, water and soil, and damaging ecosystems and biodiversity, can be punished by two to six years' imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 to 100,000 euros.

Del Tedesco suspected that the farmers illegally used neonicotinoid pesticides to treat corn seeds. In order to