The European Commission has failed to win over E.U. member states for restrictions on the use of neonicotinoids, widely used pesticides that have been linked to declining bee populations. The plan was scuttled in a 15 March vote that angered environmental activists. Under the commission's January proposal, neonicotinoids would be banned from flowering crops such as corn, sunflowers, and rapeseed for 2 years starting this summer. The commission based the ban on growing evidence that neonicotinoids pose a threat to bee health, including three January reports from the European Food Safety that described the threat as an "acute risk."
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