France has become the first country in Europe to ban all five pesticides that some researchers believe are killing off pollinating bee populations. The move has been celebrated by environmentalists, but farmers have warned that it lowers their defences against a number of harmful and difficult-to-control crop pests.
 

France’s outright ban of nicotinoids goes further than the EU requires (the EU recently voted to outlaw  three neonicotinoids – clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam – from December 19).