EPA pollinator plan does not go far enough to protect bees

EPA pollinator plan does not go far enough to protect bees

Friends of the Earth calls for agency to suspend bee-toxic pesticides

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its final Policy to Mitigate the Acute Risk to Bees from Pesticide Products, which prohibits applications of acutely toxic pesticides under certain conditions when pollinators are present. The final policy is less stringent than the initial proposed policy in May 2015.

Tiffany Finck-Haynes, food futures campaigner at Friends of the Earth, issued the following response:

This policy fails pollinators. The science is clear—pesticides are killing bees, which are essential to food production and many ecosystems. Based on the growing body of science that has been published since EPA released its proposed policy, EPA should have strengthened not weakened this policy. This policy does not address the fact that many bee-toxic chemicals stay in our environment for months to years. If EPA is serious about protecting bees, the livelihood of beekeepers and our environment, the agency should take bee-toxic pesticides off the market.

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Expert contact: Tiffany Finck-Haynes, (202) 222-0715, [email protected]
Communications contact: Michael Khoo, (202) 669-7911, [email protected]

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