for common pests which minimise as previously the most used source of information used by suppliers was that distributed by the agrochemical companies which sell pesticides, a perceived conflict of interest. Lindane was banned from use on crops destined for Co-op own-brand products in 1999 after mounting health concerns, ten years before it was outlawed under the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants. The Co-operative Food became the first supermarket (2003) to ban a number of toxic chemicals (but which were still legal in the UK) from its own brand range of household products including washing up liquid and fabric conditioners. After recognising the potential for bioaccumulation of the toxic chemicals used in manufacturing and agriculture, the group joined with the WWF-UK on a campaign called DETOX which called for research into new safer chemicals which do no bioaccumulate. The Co-operative became the first UK supermarket to ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides in any of their own brand products or on their farms in 2009, after Germany, Italy and Slovenia banned the chemicals in 2008 in response to a sharp decline in their country's bee population. The business invested over £300,000 in funding peer-reviewed research on the impact of neonicotinoids on bee populations, campaigned for a ban of neonicotinoids and called on the UK government to support the proposed EU ban in 2013. They suggested that if they, then the UK's largest farmer, had banned neonicotinoids in their products and on their farms four years earlier, then it would be possible for the ban to be successfully implemented without significant impact on European farming. As a part of their 'Plan Bee' policy they also funded the UK release of the documentary film Vanishing of the Bees to raise awareness of the issue, gave away 300,000 packets of wildflower seeds to members, offered discounted bee boxes for sale to members and under-used urban areas into colourful community meadows. Genetic modification In 1994 The Co-operative Group began labelling own brands food which contained genetically modified (GM) ingredients and, five years later, they banned the use of GM ingredients in its own-brand products including GM animal feed. Since 2003 the Co-op has banned the growing of GM crops on their own land (at the time they were the largest lowland UK farming business). The group also published a report on genetic modification which suggested that the majority of customers and members did