Global bee populations have been in freefall for over a decade and scientists have identified climate change, industrial farming and pesticides as the primary causes. Up to a third of everything we eat is dependant on honey bee pollination and if bees disappear, we’re left with a gaping hole in our food chain.
Scientific research identified neonicotinoids as particularly harmful to bee populations, which prompted online activism group Sum of Us to join other organisations in pushing for them to be outlawed. After huge public pressure the EU banned neonicotinoids in 2013, but two of the world’s biggest agricultural companies, Syngenta, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, and Bayer CropScience of Monheim, Germany, have taken the European Commission to court in an attempt to overturn the ruling.
Now Sum of US are being threatened with legal action by a Bayer sub-contractor, in an apparent attempt to silence pesticide critics. We spoke to Sum of Us Campaign Manager Jon Lloyd to find out more. “A research facility that is a Bayer contractor is threatening legal action,” Jon explains. “They claim that their own research into “neonic” pesticides differs from the peer-reviewed studies that we use as the basis for our campaigning. We believe their aim is for us to drop our campaigns against Bayer and retailers that sell bee-killing pesticides.”
Corporations often use legal action as a means to prevent attacks on their business practices – however it has the potential to backfire and create public relations disasters. After a successful consumer boycott, power company EDF were recently forced to back down from a £5m lawsuit against No Dash For Gas activists who shut down the newly-constructed West Burton gas-fired power station in 2012.
Perhaps the most famous example is the “McLibel” case that ran between 1997 and 2005, when McDonalds sued environmental activists Helen Steel and David Morris for producing a critical pamphlet. Although McDonalds won the case, the negative publicity generated has tarnished their reputation, and likely contributed to falling profits in recent years.
But often companies are successful. “Lawsuits are a very common silencing tactic that big corporations use,” Jon explains. “Armed with deeper pockets and large legal teams, often just the threat of litigation is enough to make a lot of groups back down – but not us. The Sum Of Us community is 6 million strong and thanks to small donations from our members we will be able to hire our own lawyers and face down these threats. There’s a lot at stake, our future – our very survival as a species – depends on the survival of bees and other pollinators.”
Head over to Sum of Us to sign the petition to get Bayer, Syngenta, and BASF to drop their lawsuits against the European Commission or help support Sum of Us’ legal defence fund.
Latest on Huck
Maryam El Gardoum is breaking new shores for Morocco’s indigenous surfers
The Amazigh Atlantic — Through her groundbreaking career and popular surf school, the five-time Moroccan champion is helping women find their places in the waves.
Written by: Sam Haddad
Youth violence’s rise is deeply concerning, but mass hysteria doesn’t help
Safe — On Knife Crime Awareness Week, writer, podcaster and youth worker Ciaran Thapar reflects on the presence of violent content online, growing awareness about the need for action, and the two decades since Saul Dibb’s Bullet Boy.
Written by: Ciaran Thapar
Volcom teams up with Bob Mollema for the latest in its Featured Artist Series
True to This — The boardsports lifestyle brand will host an art show in Biarritz to celebrate the Dutch illustrators’ second capsule collection.
Written by: Huck
A visual trip through 100 years of New York’s LGBTQ+ spaces
Queer Happened Here — A new book from historian and writer Marc Zinaman maps scores of Manhattan’s queer venues and informal meeting places, documenting the city’s long LGBTQ+ history in the process.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Nostalgic photos of everyday life in ’70s San Francisco
A Fearless Eye — Having moved to the Bay Area in 1969, Barbara Ramos spent days wandering its streets, photographing its landscape and characters. In the process she captured a city in flux, as its burgeoning countercultural youth movement crossed with longtime residents.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Tony Njoku: ‘I wanted to see Black artists living my dream’
What Made Me — In this series, we ask artists and rebels about the forces and experiences that shaped who they are. Today, it’s avant-garde electronic and classical music hybridist Tony Njoku.
Written by: Tony Njoku
