For the sake of both babies and bees, please send a message to your state legislators to ban dangerous neonic seed treatments!
"Research links neonics to neurological, developmental, and reproductive harms, including birth defects of the heart and brain," according to the National Resources Defense Council.
A 2024 study found that environmental exposure to neonicotinoid insecticides is linked to preterm birth. This is alarming, given that over 95 percent of pregant women have neonics in their bodies, with the highest levels in Hispanic women, and levels are on the rise.
Beware: drinking water treatment does not remove neonics from water.
TAKE ACTION: Ask your state legislator to support a ban on bee-killing neonic seed treatments.
Honey bee colony losses continue at alarming rates. In the 2022-2023 season, commercial beekeepers saw a mortality rate of 48.2 percent in their hives, almost as bad as the 2020-2021 season with the highest loss rate ever reported (50.8%). Survey results from the 2023-2024 season are expected soon.
New York State made history in 2023 when Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Birds and Bees Protection Act to ban neonicotinoid (neonic) coatings on corn, soybean and wheat seeds. Vermont followed, passing a similar law in 2024.
The National Caucus of Environmental Legislators has stepped up to address the crisis with legislation to restrict the use of bee-killing neonic insecticides . Across the country, bills to ban, restrict or regulate neonics have been introduced in 23 states and passed in Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.
There's still more to be done, because most of these laws target home lawn and garden use. The victories in New York and Vermont are inspiring action targeted at the larger problem of agricultural use, and can be used as inspiration for other states.
What began with the collapse of bee colonies has become a full-on insect apocalypse that scientists say is “tearing apart the tapestry of life”, devastating bird populations, harming deer and rabbits, impacting human health and threatening the future of foods that rely on pollinators.
The U.S. agricultural landscape is now 48 times more toxic to bees than it was 25 years ago and crop yields for apples, cherries and blueberries are already being reduced by a lack of pollinators.
Why? Because of Bayer’s business model: genetically modified seeds soaked in bee-killing neonic insecticides.
In the 1980s, Bayer invented synthetic neonicotinoid compounds that could be applied to the seed of a plant and remain effective for the plant’s entire lifespan.
The Environmental Protection Agency knew neonics were developmental neurotoxins, but it did nothing to protect babies. A 2001 study Bayer submitted to the EPA found that when pregnant rats were exposed to high doses of the Bayer's neonic imidacloprid, fetal brain development was impacted. The EPA then set a limit for imidacloprid at a medium dose, even though Bayer never submitted data showing that this level of exposure was safe.
By 2004, Bayer had agreements with the top genetically modified seed companies to coat their seeds with massive amounts of neonics.
By 2007, 80 percent of the corn seed sold by market-leader Pioneer (Monsanto’s rival-cum-partner) was treated with Bayer’s clothianidin-based Poncho.
By 2008, Colony Collapse Disorder was a worldwide problem.
Today, nearly all corn seeds and about half of soybean seeds are coated in neonics.
Bayer takes advantage of the fact that, in the US, seed treatments aren’t regulated as pesticides. Seed treatments used to be measured in overall neonic use, but the US Geological Survey started leaving them out in 2014.
That’s crazy, because just one corn seed can hold enough neonics to kill a quarter-million bees!
TAKE ACTION: Tell your state legislators to ban neonic seed treatments!