Reclaiming the future of food and farming

neonicotinoids

Lex Horan's picture

Minnesota bees poised for relief from neonics

Issues: 
Bees Campaign

A few months into the Minnesota legislative session, things are starting to get exciting. In the midst of the flurry of hearings, amendments and hallway conversations that make Minnesota politics happen, there’s cause for celebration for bees at the Capitol.

This week, three members of the Minnesota House of Representatives introduced a bill that would suspend the use of neonicotinoids and fipronil — systemic insecticides that are among the driving factors behind bee declines.

Mar 19, 2015
Lex Horan
Tags: 
bees
neonicotinoids
Minnesota
Pesticide Action Network's picture

Bayer, bees & the Hall of Shame

Issues: 
Bees Campaign

This may be the only time you see PAN nominate a pesticide manufacturer for an award.

Every year, our friends at Corporate Accountability International (CAI) highlight the year’s worst corporate actors in their Corporate Hall of Shame. The Hall of Shame helps hold corporations accountable for the most egregious examples of corporate abuse. This year, we’re partnering with CAI to nominate a particularly bad actor in our food and farming system: Bayer CropScience.

Jan 8, 2015
Pesticide Actio...
Tags: 
bees
Bayer
neonicotinoids
Pesticide Action Network's picture

Neonics in the water?!

Issues: 
Bees Campaign

We've known for some time that neonicotinoids — the class of systemic, bee-harming insecticides — are water soluble. They've been detected in surface water in several agriculture-heavy states. And now they're showing up in Midwestern waters.

Last month, the U.S. Geological Survey released a report finding clothianidin, one of the most widely used neonics, in 75% of Midwest streams surveyed. Other common neonics were detected too. Not good news.

Aug 7, 2014
Pesticide Actio...
Tags: 
bees
neonicotinoids
Emily Marquez's picture

Neonics: More evidence of harm

Issues: 
Bees Campaign

PAN has done a lot to spread the word about neonicotinoid pesticides and their adverse impacts on bees. But there are other repercussions for widespread use of neonics too, as an increasing number of studies highlight. Adverse impacts on wild pollinators, birds and other wildlife from neonics have also been in the news lately.

Neonics are the most widely used insecticides in the world, finding their way into ecosystems through water, soil and insects other species rely on for food. These chemicals were released onto the U.S. market without regulators fully understanding their impacts, and scientists continue to uncover more unintended consequences — from harming honey bees to song birds.

Jul 17, 2014
Emily Marquez
Tags: 
neonicotinoids
Paul Towers's picture

California stung by lawsuit to protect bees

Issues: 
Bees Campaign

They’re in our garden plants, sprayed on orchards throughout the state, and used as seed coatings on commodity crops in California and across the country. After five years of review, California officials have not only failed to complete an evaluation of neonicotinoid pesticides (neonics), they continue to allow more and more of these bee-harming chemicals into the market.

Fed up with the years of hand-sitting, PAN and our partners brought the state and pesticide manufacturers to court today.

Jul 8, 2014
Paul Towers
Tags: 
bees
neonicotinoids
Paul Towers's picture

Your (not so) “bee-friendly” plants

Issues: 
Bees Campaign

Bee-harming pesticides in our lavender and daisies? In the same week that an international body of scientists released a comprehensive global assessment of the harms of pesticides to bees, a new report shows that these very same pesticides are found in many of our backyard plants — at levels of concern — that are meant to support pollinators.

Jun 25, 2014
Paul Towers
Tags: 
bees
neonicotinoids
Pesticide Action Network's picture

Building buzz for bees

Issues: 
Bees Campaign

Pressure on the Environmental Protection Agency to safeguard bees continues to grow stronger. Today in DC, PAN joined partners to hand deliver a message from more than half a million people to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy: Step up and prioritize protecting bees from harmful pesticides.

Even though independent studies clearly show that neonicotinoid pesticides (or "neonics") are hazardous to bees, EPA won't conclude its review of these chemicals until 2018. Meanwhile, neonics are the most widely used class of insecticides in the world. And bee populations continue to decrease at alarming rates.

Mar 20, 2014
Pesticide Actio...
Tags: 
bees
neonicotinoids
Paul Towers's picture

Bad for bees, bad for kids

Issues: 
Bees Campaign

Like many, I was lucky enough to spend the holidays surrounded by family and food. So I was especially unnerved by new evidence, released just before the holidays, that bee-harming pesticides have been linked to impaired brain development and function in children.

The science showing that neonicotinoid pesticides (or neonics) harm bees is clear. New evidence highlighting impacts on children's health is also disturbing, especially as a father. And while other countries are stepping up to protect bees and kids from neonics, policymakers here in the U.S. are still seemingly stuck. My New Year’s resolution: This year we keep high heat on EPA and insist regulators take meaningful action on pesticides that harm bees and kids.

Jan 3, 2014
Paul Towers
Tags: 
bees
neonicotinoids

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