Native pollinators like bees play an essential role in the environment and are an indispensable part of our agricultural system. Many foods that we eat depend on crops pollinated by honeybees and 90% of all flowering plants require pollinators to reproduce. But in recent years, bees and other pollinators have been disappearing at alarming rates, causing widespread concern that these important species could be wiped out altogether.
A widely used class of insecticides called neonicotinoids affects pollinators including honeybees. Since neonicotinoids first became widely used in the mid-2000s, roughly one-third of America’s honeybee colonies have collapsed each year. Allowing even one more of these insecticides to be used on farms and orchards will only make the situation worse.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently approved a new insecticide called sulfoxaflor even though their own scientists considered the product to be similar to neonicotinoids and “very highly toxic” to honeybees. We need to ensure that this insecticide, and others like it, does not get out into the environment. We cannot afford a collapse in pollinator populations.
Urge the EPA to refuse to approve any insecticides unless scientists confirm they present no threat to bees and other pollinators.
Dear Administrator McCarthy,
I am writing to ask that the EPA protect bees and other pollinators.
Native pollinators like bees play an essential role in the environment and are an indispensable part of our agricultural system. Many foods that we eat depend on crops pollinated by honeybees and 90% of all flowering plants require pollinators to reproduce. But in recent years, bees and other pollinators have been disappearing at alarming rates, causing widespread concern that these important species could be wiped out altogether.
Since insecticides like neonicotinoids first became widely used in the mid-2000s, roughly one-third of America’s honeybee colonies have collapsed each year. Allowing another of these insecticides to be used on millions of acres of farms and orchards will only make the situation worse.
Recently, your agency registered a new insecticide called sulfoxaflor even though the EPA’s own scientists considered the product to be similar to neonicotinoids and “very highly toxic” to honeybees. We need to ensure that this insecticide, and others like it, does not get out into the environment. We cannot afford a collapse in pollinator species populations.
[Your comments here]
I urge you to refuse to register any insecticides unless scientists confirm they present no threat to bees and other pollinators.
Sincerely,
[Your name here]
