In 2023, New York made history by passing the Birds and Bees Protection Act, banning neonicotinoid coatings on corn, soybean, and wheat seeds. Vermont followed in 2024 with a similar law. These two states proved that meaningful action against bee-killing pesticides is possible, even while the federal government looks the other way. Their victories are now a model for the rest of the country.
The need is urgent. A single neonic-coated seed carries enough toxin to kill 250,000 bees, yet these treated seeds are completely exempt from EPA regulation. Last season, beekeepers lost over 55% of their hives, the worst on record. Meanwhile, over 95% of pregnant women carry neonics in their bodies. The pesticide grows into the plant and can’t be washed off our food or filtered from our drinking water.
New York and Vermont showed us the path forward. Now it’s your state’s turn. Contact your state legislators today and tell them to follow New York and Vermont’s lead. If two states can stand up to Bayer and protect pollinators, children, and our food supply, so can yours.
TAKE ACTION: Tell your state legislators to ban bee-killing neonic seed treatments!
Because of neonicotinoid seed treatments, honey bee colony losses continue at alarming rates. In the 2024-2025 season, commercial beekeepers saw a mortality rate in their hives of 55.6 percent, the highest loss rate reported since tracking started in 2010-2011, 14.2 percentage points higher than the 14-year average summer loss of 41.4 percent.
Neonics also damage human health. "Research links neonic exposures in the womb to birth defects of the heart and brain, autism-like symptoms, and reduced cognitive abilities. Adult exposures are also associated with lower testosterone and sperm quality and count, altered insulin regulation, and changes to fat metabolism," according to the National Resources Defense Council.
The National Caucus of Environmental Legislators has stepped up to address the crisis with legislation to restrict the use of bee-killing neonic insecticides, and they have a new fact-sheet on neonic-coated seeds.
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, Vermont, and Washington. But, there's still more to be done, because most of those laws only cover home lawn and garden use. The victories in New York and Vermont target the larger problem of agricultural use and can be used as inspiration for other states.
Colorado considered legislation this year that would have taken an approach modeled in Canada. Kind of like a prescription, since 2019, Quebec has required a "verification of need" — a farm must be diagnosed with a pest problem before using neonicotinoid-treated seeds.
The Origin of the Crisis
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 a seed and grow into and along with the plant, remaining effective through harvest. Like genetically engineered pesticide plants, with neonic seed treatments, the plant is the pesticide. It can't be washed off. The pesticide is there in every bite.
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 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.
In the U.S., seed treatments aren’t regulated as pesticides. Seed treatments used to be measured in overall neonic use, but the U.S. Geological Survey started leaving them out in 2014.
TAKE ACTION: Tell your state legislators to ban neonic seed treatments!