{"id":11917,"date":"2013-09-24T00:01:53","date_gmt":"2013-09-24T04:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=11917"},"modified":"2013-09-24T09:55:41","modified_gmt":"2013-09-24T13:55:41","slug":"swarm-home-depot-and-lowes-retailers-must-stop-selling-poisoned-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2013\/09\/swarm-home-depot-and-lowes-retailers-must-stop-selling-poisoned-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"Swarm Home Depot and Lowe\u2019s: Retailers Must Stop Selling Poisoned Plants"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Beyond Pesticides, September 24, 2013) Last month a new report<\/a> co-released by Beyond Pesticides, Friends of the Earth, and other allies revealed that the neonicotinoids (neonics), the pesticides implicated in global bee die-offs, may be lurking in our own gardens.<\/p>\n

\"FOE<\/a>The study showed that more than half of the \u201cbee-friendly\u201d plants sold at retailers like Home Depot and Lowe’s contained these \u201cbee-killing\u201d pesticides.<\/strong>Our coalition and nearly 200,000 people across the country have stepped-up to tell Home Depot and Lowe\u2019s to stop selling these poisoned plants and off-the-shelf bee-killing pesticides.<\/p>\n

So far neither company has responded. <\/i><\/p>\n

We need to send a clear message to Lowe\u2019s and Home Depot that it is not okay to further endanger our imperiled pollinators. With beekeepers reporting losses up to 90% last winter, consumers should be able to provide a true sanctuary for honey bees and other pollinators.<\/p>\n

Join us this week in a social media \u201cswarm\u201d on Facebook and Twitter to send Home Depot and Lowe\u2019s an urgent demand: \u00a0 “Stop selling bee-killing pesticides and poisoned \u201d\u02dcbee-friendly\u2019 plants!”<\/b><\/p>\n

I.<\/strong> \u00a0 Copy and post this message on Home Depot<\/a><\/strong> and Lowe\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> Facebook pages:<\/p>\n

Home Depot\/Lowe\u2019s:<\/i> <\/i>Stop selling bee-killing pesticides and poisoned bee-friendly plants!<\/i> www.beyondpesticides.org\/pollinators\/index.php<\/a> \u00a0<\/i>www.BeeAction.org<\/i><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> Click on any of these tweets to tweet them at Home Depot and Lowe\u2019s Twitter accounts:<\/p>\n

@Homedepot @Lowes: 1 in 3 bites of food \u00a0 need #bees! Stop selling bee-killing pesticides! #BeeAction @bpncamp @foe_us www.beeaction.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Buzz kill: @Home Depot @Lowes: Stop selling bee-killing pesticides #savethebees #BeeAction @bpncamp @foe_us:www.beeaction.org<\/a><\/p>\n

III.<\/strong> If you haven’t already, sign the petition telling retailers to stop selling poisoned plants!<\/a><\/p>\n

Europe has already placed a ban on bee-killing pesticides, and top retailers in the UK are refusing to sell them. Beyond Pesticides and allies are challenging top garden retailers to make the same commitment here in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Bees are essential to our food system and they are dying at alarming rates. We can protect bees in our own backyards and gardens right now by rejecting neonics and demanding that top retailers stop selling these bee-killing pesticides. Please join us in asking Lowe’s and Home Depot to BEE Protective and give bees a chance by not selling bee-killing pesticides. The bees have enough troubles — our backyard gardens should be havens for bees — not death traps.<\/p>\n

Bee part of the solution! Join us on <\/b>Home Depot<\/b><\/a> and <\/b>Lowe\u2019s<\/b><\/a> Facebook pages to tell these home and garden giants to step up and protect bees!<\/b><\/p>\n

Don’t have a Facebook or Twitter account?<\/i><\/b> \u00a0Give Home Depot and Lowe\u2019s a call!
\nHome Depot: 1-800-466-3337<\/b>
\nLowe\u2019s: 1-800-445-6937<\/strong><\/p>\n

Background<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Neonicotinoids are a relatively new class of insecticides that share a common mode of action that affect the central nervous system of insects, resulting in paralysis and death. They include imidacloprid, acetamiprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran, nithiazine, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam<\/i>. Peer-reviewed science has repeatedly identified these insecticides as highly toxic to honey bees and other pollinators<\/b><\/a>. Once applied, plants take up these pesticides and exude them in their pollen and nectar, subsequently endangering any pollinators that forage on these contaminated plants.<\/p>\n

With one in three bites of food reliant on bees and other beneficial species for fruit production, the decline of these important species demands swift action. The mounting scientific evidence, along with unprecedented annual colony losses at 40 to 90 percent this year, demonstrate the impacts that these pesticides are having on these fragile beings.<\/p>\n

To save the bees, Beyond Pesticides is keeping the pressure on at all fronts.<\/p>\n