04
Mar
Take Action: Saving America’s Pollinators Act Reintroduced in Congress
(Beyond Pesticides, March 4, 2019) Last week, U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) reintroduced the Saving America’s Pollinators Act (H.R.1337) to cancel specific bee-toxic pesticides and establish a review and cancellation process for all pesticides that are potentially harmful to pollinators. The specific pesticides targeted in the bill include the systemic insecticides imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, dinotefuran, acetamiprid, sulfoxaflor, flupyradifurone, and fipronil. The bill also establishes requirements for review of other potentially bee-toxic chemicals by an independent pollinator protection board, and requires annual reports on the health and population status of pollinators. The bill creates a sustainable model for pollinator protection in the face of ongoing obstruction by an increasingly industry-influenced EPA. There are 29 cosponsors to date.
The current bill is the fifth version of Saving America’s Pollinators Act (SAPA), which was first introduced by U.S. Representative Conyers (D-MI) in 2013. The newest version differs from previous bills in its bold definition of who should have responsibility for assessing harm to pollinators. SAPA 2019 calls for the establishment of a Pollinator Protection Board, to be composed of expert scientists, beekeepers, farmers, members of environmental organizations and other key stakeholders, nearly all of whom must not have any conflict of interest or affiliation with industry. The Pollinator Protection Board would be charged with annual review of potentially bee-toxic pesticides, to ensure continued assessments the initial suspensions. Beyond Pesticides holds the position that such continuous oversight free from conflict of interest is necessary to adequately protect vital pollinators, especially in the face of worsening mass declines. The current SAPA creates a similar board structure and authorities to the Organic Foods Production Act.
“Pollinators and other insects are vital to our economy and our livelihoods. This analysis is a call to action to do all we can to protect these valuable insects,” Rep. Blumenauer said, referencing a recent study “that paints a terrifying picture for the future of insects and our planet.”
Numerous scientific studies implicate systemic insecticides as key contributors to the global decline of pollinator populations. Systemic insecticides have been found to weaken both behavioral and immune resistance to parasites, pathogens, and temperature stress in honey bees and native pollinators. Several independent studies of managed and wild bees in the field have shown significant colony and population declines as a direct result of neonicotinoid crop treatment (1, 2, 3). There is widespread consensus in the scientific community that systemic insecticides are responsible for pollinator declines and need to be restricted, as evidenced by a 2018 “Call to restrict neonicotinoids” published in Science and signed by 233 scientists.
“The health of our food system depends on the health of our pollinators. The status quo is like flying blind – we shouldn’t be using these pesticides when we don’t know their full impact,” said Rep. Blumenauer in the introduction to the previous iteration of the bill. “The EPA has a responsibility to get to the bottom of this issue and protect pollinators.”
EPA scientists have found that neonicotinoids pose far-reaching risks to birds and aquatic invertebrates, in addition to pollinators. EPA’s risk assessments find deadly impacts to birds from neonicotinoid-treated seeds, poisoned insect prey, and contaminated grasses. University researchers have found that tiny amounts of neonicotinoids are enough to cause migrating songbirds to lose their sense of direction and become emaciated. A 2018 study by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) researchers found neonics widespread in the Great Lakes at levels that harm aquatic insects—the foundation of healthy aquatic ecosystems.
Human health is also at stake. A recent study by USGS and the University of Iowa found two metabolites of imidacloprid in drinking water that have never been evaluated for their potential risks to human and environmental health. Experts warn that these metabolites may morph further into new forms of chlorinated disinfection byproducts (DBPs) during routine water treatment processes, with potential for high toxicity to humans due to loss of insect-specificity.
Canada’s pesticide regulatory agency recently proposed a phase-out of two widely used neonicotinoids, thiamethoxam and clothianidin, based on harms to bees and aquatic ecosystems. In 2018, Europe instituted a ban on neonicotinoids for outdoor use based on based on the General Court of the European Union’s 2018 ruling affirming their harms to pollinators.
Rep. Blumenauer is offering a legislative remedy to address the U.S. pollinator crisis. But Congress won’t act unless members hear from their constituents. Read the latest draft of the bill to understand how the new act would transform pollinator protection in the U.S., and urge your representative to support the Saving America’s Pollinator Act 2019. With managed honey bee losses remaining at unsustainable levels and wild pollinators and insects of all taxa at risk of extinction, it is time for the U.S. to finally protect pollinators.
All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.
Source: congress.gov
help the butterflys
March 4th, 2019 at 2:48 pmWe need our bees, butterflies, pollinators and birds and other wildlife, and us, too, to be healthy, not sick and dying because of poisons we’re eating and breathing.
March 4th, 2019 at 3:08 pmSave the earth’s pollinators.
March 4th, 2019 at 4:27 pmWe’ve destroyed the soils fertility with chemicals, requiring more chemicals and more water. We have greatly harmed our own health, and now we are killing the pollinators. We are on a death spiral the magnitude of which should frighten us all. By protecting the pollinators, we will begin to heal the soil, and healthier soil requires less inputs which will result in healthier people. So, please protect the pollinators.
March 4th, 2019 at 5:08 pmPlease save America’s Pollinators.
March 4th, 2019 at 5:09 pmI would like our bees to have a life that is worth it.Everything deserves to live.
April 16th, 2019 at 10:38 amWe must and desire to save our animals for the protection of us- and the animals.
April 16th, 2019 at 10:39 amprotecting our pollinators is so important, I am glad that people are bringing their attention to this problem!
April 16th, 2019 at 10:39 ami think these pollinators are very important because if we do not protect them we will not be able to have plant reproduction.
April 16th, 2019 at 10:39 amWe must and desire to save our animals for the protection of us- and the animals. Thank you
April 16th, 2019 at 10:39 amWe must protect our pollinators! Please work to ban all pesticides that are harming our precious bees and other pollinators that we depend on. Our pollinators take care of us as they pollinate our food supply and we need to take care of them too. Thank you!
April 16th, 2019 at 10:40 amWe must protect our pollinators. We need you to ban all pesticides because they are harming the bees. We need bees to store our food supply. PLEASE do whatever you can
April 16th, 2019 at 10:41 amI thank you for bringing attention to this
April 16th, 2019 at 10:41 amWe need to protect the pollinators. They are very important to us. Without them there is not going to be enough pollination. This is all caused by pesticides being used. So, we need to stop using them. We need to help and protect them like they have done for us.
April 16th, 2019 at 10:41 amwe ask you to please look at what these pesticides affect and to try and prevent it from happening.
April 16th, 2019 at 10:42 amThese pesticides are VERY dangerous to our pollinators! Please ban these pesticides so that our pollinators can live . Without our pollinators we will not have any fruits and then we cannot live.
April 16th, 2019 at 10:42 am