Food safety and environmental organizations call on EPA to ban bee-killing pesticides

Groups will deliver hundreds of thousands of comments to EPA Headquarters Monday for neonicotinoid comment period

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of food safety and environmental groups will deliver hundreds of thousands of public comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday, urging the agency to ban neonicotinoid pesticides–a leading cause of pollinator decline and massive bee die-offs. The agency will close its comment period Monday for its preliminary pollinator risk assessment for three neonicotinoid insecticides: clothianidin, thiamethoxam and dinotefuran and for the updated assessment of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid.

Pollinators, including thousands of species of bees, are critical for the growth of fruit, vegetables, and flowering plants that humans depend on. A growing body of scientific data implicates neonic pesticides as key contributors to declining pollinator populations. Bayer and Syngenta, the companies that manufacture neonicotinoids, recently commissioned a study that tested fields in Europe for contamination and the effects on both managed and native bee colonies. This landmark study found clear evidence that bee colonies that feed on plants treated with these pesticides suffer terrible losses.

WHAT: Delivery of public comments on harmful neonic pesticides to the EPA
WHO: Friends of the Earth, Center for Biological Diversity, Earthjustice, Environment America and SumOfUs
WHEN: 11:00 a.m.
WHERE: EPA Headquarters (1200 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W., Washington, D.C, a half block south of the intersection of 12th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW.)
VISUALS: Boxes of public comments with posters and signs.

Expert Contacts:
Tiffany Finck-Haynes, Friends of the Earth, (202) 222-0715, [email protected]
Alejandro Davila, Earthjustice, (202) 745-5229, [email protected]
Lori Ann Burd, Center for Biological Diversity, (847) 567-4052, [email protected]
Communications Contact: Erin Jensen, Friends of the Earth, (202) 222-0722, [email protected]