Blumenauer, Conyers Lead Letter Urging EPA to Protect Pollinators & Further Examine Impacts of Pesticides on Pollinators

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

Washington, DC – Representatives Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) and John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) led 38 members of the U.S. House of Representatives in sending a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy expressing concerns regarding the agency’s assessment of the impacts of the widely used insecticide, imidacloprid, on pollinators. Imidacloprid is a type of neonicotinoid, a class of pesticides that has been linked to declining pollinator populations.

In January, EPA released its Preliminary Pollinator Assessment to Support the Registration Review of Imidacloprid, which found that imidacloprid does pose a risk to honey bees. This assessment, however, failed to address many important issues necessary to reversing pollinator losses. In their letter, the lawmakers call on EPA to further examine the impacts of imidacloprid and other neonicotinoids by evaluating: their impacts on native bee species; the risks of other stressors on honey bees in conjunction with exposure to pesticides; and the effects when multiple pesticides are used together.

“Since beekeepers began reporting massive bee die-offs more than a decade ago, the health of our nation’s honey bees and other pollinators has been a continuing source of concern,” the lawmakers wrote. “In order to meet the goals of reversing pollinator losses and restoring healthy populations laid out in this strategy, EPA must strengthen and improve the scope of its risk assessment of neonicotinoids.”

Continued decline in bee populations will have serious implications to American food production and the economy. Approximately one in three bites of food benefits from bee pollination. Pollinators provide $24 billion a year to the economy, $15 billion of which is contributed by honey bees. Many crops, including almonds, cranberries, and apples, rely almost entirely on bees and other pollinators.

Representatives Conyers and Blumenauer have long championed efforts to protect our pollinators. Last year, they reintroduced Saving America’s Pollinators Act, legislation that requires EPA to take swift action to prevent mass bee die-offs and protect the health of honey bees and other critical pollinators by suspending the use of neonicotinoids. It also requires the Secretary of the Interior, in coordination with the Administrator of the EPA, to monitor the health of native bee populations and to identify and publicly report the likely causes of bee kills.

CONYERS, Blumenauer Lead Letter Urging EPA to Protect Pollinators & Further Examine Impacts of Pesticid...

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Reps. Conyers and Blumenauer Introduce Legislation Protecting Pollinators and America’s Food System

WASHINGTON – Today, Representatives John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) reintroduced the Saving America’s Pollinators Act of 2015,  which requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suspend the use of certain insecticides, known as neonicotinoids, until the agency can review the registration and declare that such insecticides do not cause adverse effects upon honey bees and other pollinators.

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

“The EPA plans to wait until 2018 before reviewing the registration of neonicotinoids.  But America’s bees cannot wait three more years.  Neither can the thousands of farmers that rely on pollinators.  Our honeybees are critical to ecological sustainability and to our economy.  Scientists have reported that common symptoms of the decline of honey bees and other pollinators are attributed to the use of a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids,” said Rep. Conyers.  “The ‘Saving America’s Pollinators Act’ will address this threat to pollinator populations by suspending the use of certain neonicotinoids and by requiring the EPA to immediately conduct a full review of the scientific evidence before allowing the entry of other neonicotinoids into the market.”

Neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides known to have acute and chronic effects on honey bees and other pollinator species, are considered a major contributing factor to population declines. Academic studies and European regulators have concluded that pesticides identified as neonictinoids are linked to bee declines, both alone and in combination with other factors like disease and malnutrition. 

Added Rep. Conyers, “I urge all of my colleagues to please protect our pollinators and support the Saving America’s Pollinators Act.  One of every three bites of food we eat is from a crop pollinated by honey bees.  These crops include apples, avocados, cranberries, cherries, broccoli, peaches, carrots, grapes, soybeans, sugar beets and onions.  Unfortunately, unless swift action is taken, these crops, and numerous others, will soon disappear due to the dramatic decline of honey bee populations throughout the country.”

The Saving America’s Pollinators Act directs the EPA Administrator to suspend the registration of certain neonicotinoids – such as imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, dinotafuran – and any other members of the nitro group of neonicotinoid insecticides until a determination has been made that such insecticides will not cause adverse effects on pollinators based on an evaluation of peer-review scientific evidence and a completed field study. 

The bill also requires the Secretary of the Interior, in coordination with the EPA Administrator, to regularly monitor the health and population status of native bees and identify the scope and likely causes of unusual native bee mortality.  

“Pollinators are not only vital to a sustainable environment, but key to a stable food supply.  In fact, one out of every three bites of food we eat is from a crop pollinated by bees.  It is imperative that we take a step back to make sure we understand all the factors involved in bee population decline and move swiftly to protect our pollinators,” said Rep. Blumenauer.

The Saving America’s Pollinators Act of 2015 has been endorsed by the American Bird Conservancy, Avaaz, Bat World Sanctuary, Inc., Beyond Pesticides, Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Environmental Health, Center for Food Safety, Earthjustice, Ecological Farming Association, Equal Exchange, Family Farm Defenders, Friends of the Earth, Food Democracy Now!, Food and Water Watch, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, National Co+op Grocers, National Organic Coalition, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northeast, Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, Northeast Organic Farming Association - Interstate Council, Northeast, Organic Farming Association – Massachusetts, Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, Maine, Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, Midwest Organic Sustainable Education Service, Organic Consumers Association, Organic Farmers' Agency for Relationship Marketing, Inc., Organization for Bat Conservation, Oregon Tilth, Pesticide Action Network North America, Sierra Club, United Natural Foods Inc., Toxic Free North Carolina, and International Association for Human Values.

Saving America's Pollinator's Act of 2015

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Conyers: “Overwhelming Scientific Evidence Makes Clear - Congress Must Act to Save America’s Bees”

(WASHINGTON) – Today, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) weighed in on the pollinator crisis resulting from the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, as his congressional staff attended a press conference unveiling of a new study demonstrating the damaging effects that these types of pesticides have on honey bee populations. This event comes on the heels of a new study - entitled “Gardeners Beware of 2014” - which found  bee-killing pesticides in 51% of “bee-friendly” plants from garden centers across the U.S. and Canada. Last July, Representative Conyers and Early Blumenauer (D-Ore.) introduced H.R. 2692, the ‘Saving America’s Pollinators Act,’ to immediately suspend the use of certain neonicotinoid pesticides until the government had made conclusive health and safety determinations. After the press conference in Detroit, Representative Conyers issued the following statement:

U.S. Representative
John Conyers, Jr.

“As more and more research continues to be published, the evidence is increasingly clear: neonicotinoid pesticides are damaging American pollinators and causing a precipitous drop in the number of honey bees. Worse still, neonicotinoid pesticides’ impact on honey bees and other pollinators have become a direct threat to our food system and overall agriculture industry. For these reasons, Representative Blumenaeur of Oregon and I introduced, H.R. 2692, the ‘Saving America’s Pollinators Act,’ directing the EPA Administrator to immediately suspend the registration of certain neonicotinoids until experts have determined that these insecticides will not cause adverse effects on pollinators. Rather than rely on industry talking points, my legislation will direct the EPA to evaluate peer-reviewed scientific evidence and complete a thorough field study,” said Conyers.

“It is deeply troubling that retail garden centers like Home Depot and Lowes continue the sale of neonicotinoid pesticides, seedlings and plants pre-treated with such pesticides as supposedly ‘bee-friendly’ products. This is an unfair and deceptive practice; many consumers are not made aware that the ‘bee-friendly’ products they purchase have been pre-treated with neonicotinoids, or that - as rigorous scientific reviews have continued to demonstrate - neonicotinoid pesticides are directly responsible for the alarming rate of honey bee decline and colony losses. I call on retailers to immediately remove the sale of neonicotinoids and any products pre-treated with such pesticides.

“Following much scientific evidence and activism, President Obama recently announced the creation of a Pollinator Health Task Force to conduct research on pollinator declines including the impact of pesticide exposure on bees and other insects. While I applaud the Obama Administration’s first steps, I urge my colleagues in Congress to take up the mantle and support the ‘Saving America’s Pollinators Act.’ Our nation’s fragile pollinators and food systems cannot wait any longer.”

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