Both sides of the coin ! March 2022 DEFRA statement:
"After careful consideration of all the issues, the government has decided to grant an application for emergency authorisation to allow use of a product containing the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam for the treatment of sugar beet seed in 2021. This is in recognition of the potential danger posed to the 2021 crop from beet yellows virus.
During 2021, however, sugar beet seeds were not treated with thiamethoxam. The government attached various conditions to the emergency authorisation. The final decision was dependent on the results of a forecast of virus levels in the 2021 sugar beet crop. This forecast, produced on 1 March, predicted that 8.37 % of the national sugar beet area would be affected by virus yellows by the end of August 2021. This figure was substantially reduced as a consequence of the low winter temperatures. As a result it was below the 9% threshold set for use of the thiamethoxam product."