ECJ upholds partial ban on group of insecticides found to harm bees News
© WikiMedia (J-Luc)
ECJ upholds partial ban on group of insecticides found to harm bees

The European Court of Justice [official website] on Thursday upheld [case materials] a partial ban of a group of insecticides that were found to harm bees.

Drug companies Bayer and Syngenta had appealed a European Commission regulation [text] approved in 2013, which restricted the use of the chemicals clothianidin, thiamethoxam and imidacloprid, all used in insecticides. The European Food Safety Authority [official website] found that the chemicals used in the insecticide were harmful to bees, and further research has confirmed their findings.

Greenpeace EU cheered the decision [press release] calling it, “great news for pollinators and the wider environment” while also expressing concern that there are still many bee-killing insecticides out on the market.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Warsaw Pact signed

On May 14, 1955, seven communist countries in Eastern Europe (Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland Romania, and the USSR) signed the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance (Warsaw Pact), a mutual defense accord created to counter NATO in the West. East Germany joined in 1959. Albania left in 1968.

Delegates gathered in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention

On May 14, 1787, delegates from each state begin to arrive in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention.

The last delegates arrived 10 days later, on May 24. Learn more about the Constitutional Convention.