The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) has announces several activities it will carry out with the aim to protect honey bee health, including guidance on risk assessment of plant protection products and a literature review of interactions with pesticides.
30 March 2012: The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has announced several new and ongoing research activities related to honey bee health, including the development of guidance for risk assessment of plant protection products on bees, a literature review on interactions between pesticides and other factors, and food and feed safety assessments of certain genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
The risk assessment guidance document responds to concerns raised by beekeeper associations about the adequacy of current risk assessment. It will be preceded by a scientific opinion on the relevant science.
Further activities include: a literature review on interactions among pesticides and other factors affecting bee health; a scientific opinion on the risk of introduction and spread of the small hive beetle, a destructive pest of honey bee colonies; and a review of information provided by the EFSA GMO panel on the food/feed safety of GMO oil seed rape and MON810 maize pollen and honey containing trace GM pollens. [EFSA Press Release]