The first domino in the fight against bee-killing pesticides has just fallen in Minnesota. The North Star state just became the first state in America to impose restrictions on neonicotinoids.
Earlier this year The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally conceded that neonic pesticides manufactured by mega-corps like Bayer and Syngenta have been basically devastating bee populations for 20 years -- but it didn’t introduce any restrictions.
Minnesota decided to take matters into its own hands and is cracking down on neonics to save the bees. Now it’s time for the other 49 states to do the same.
Tell your state governor to introduce neonic restrictions and save the bees.
We’d like to say that the situation is urgent, but it was urgent five years ago. Now it’s desperate. American beekeepers lost 44% of their colonies between April 2015 and March 2016. And the losses are increasing year to year. When three-quarters of all food we consume relies on pollinators, this utter collapse of bee and butterfly populations isn’t just heartbreaking, it’s a matter of life and death.
It’s been a long time coming, but the wins we’ve fought for over the years are finally starting to make a difference. Minnesota is the first, but Maryland has neonic restrictions set to kick in by 2018. Two of Canada’s largest provinces are phasing out neonics -- and one of them just defeated a court appeal. We’re reaching a tipping point -- and we have millions of SumOfUs members who fought for these gains to thank. But we can’t stop here.
Tell your state governor to introduce neonic restrictions. The bees depend on us.
More information
Mother Jones. 7 January 2016.
NPR. 31 August 2016.