France bans two US pesticides, citing risk to bees

French authorities on Wednesday banned two US pesticides which ecologists deem harmful to bees. A court in Nice, ruling in a case brought by two ecological associations, banned the products from US group Dow AgroSciences, on the grounds that their containing sulfoxaflor was harmful to bees' nervous systems. The court said sulfoxaflor was liable "to present a major risk of toxicity" to pollinators. Sulfoxaflor is designed to help protect fruit and vegetables against greenfly but some studies have suggested it can cause harm to bees—whose declining numbers are already a cause of concern in numerous countries—affecting their central nervous systems and disorientating them.