Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Britain exported 8,500 tonnes of banned pesticides last year, investigation reveals
A bee collecting pollen in the city of Bristol

BRITAIN exported 8,500 tonnes of banned pesticides in 2023, an investigation revealed today.

Greenpeace’s investigative unit, Unearthed, and the NGO Public Eye discovered that the volume of neonicotinoid thiamethoxam, a toxic insecticide that destroys bees’ nervous systems, was so large that it could cover the whole of England.

The weedkiller diquat accounted for 60 per cent of the total exports.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
A support worker stands in a corridor as the first patients
Workers' Rights / 12 August 2025
12 August 2025

Government urged ‘to tackle the root causes’ of the NHS crisis and improve ‘social care services’

Police officers arrest a demonstrator during a protest in support of the Palestinian People in Gaza, in Parliament Square, in London, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025
Activism / 10 August 2025
10 August 2025

Meanwhile, Defend Our Juries say the fact that only half of the protesters faced arrests ‘shows how unworkable and unenforceable this ban is’

Similar stories
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (centre), Energy Security an
Britain / 10 October 2024
10 October 2024
Bleak report finds planet is on brink of irreversible climate disaster
The Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station which is to shut at the
Britain / 27 September 2024
27 September 2024