5,000+ people across the country deliver valentines to retailers urging them to “show bees some love” WASHINGTON, D.C. — This Valentine’s week, over 5,000 people coast-to-coast are swarming Ace Hardware and True Value stores to support the bees that pollinate flowers, strawberries and many other Valentine’s Day essentials. Friends of the Earth and allies are delivering valentines asking these retailers to “show bees some love” by committing to take pesticides shown to harm and kill bees…

Friends of the Earth urges retailers to address bee-killing pesticides in food supply WASHINGTON, D.C. — Costco (NYSE: COST) debuted the news that it will take steps to address bee-killing pesticides in its supply chain. Its inaugural bee policy encourages suppliers of garden plants to limit the use of non-essential chemicals, discourages use of neonicotinoid insecticides on pollinator-attractive plants and encourages use of eco-friendly methods of pest and disease control. Costco is also expanding its…

Friends of the Earth calls for agency to ban neonicotinoid pesticides WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its preliminary pollinator risk assessment for three neonicotinoid insecticides: clothianidin, thiamethoxam and dinotefuran and updated its assessment for the neonicotinoid imidacloprid. A growing body of scientific data implicate these pesticides as key contributors to bee declines and as harmful to other organisms that are essential to food production. The updated imidacloprid risk assessment failed to…

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…

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers granting Endangered Species Act protection to the rusty patched bumble bee, groups are taking the fight to their front door. Friends of the Earth, Environment America, Environmental Action and the Sierra Club are delivering petitions to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife headquarters today signed by 119,662 people urging the agency to enact immediate protections for the bee. The agency is accepting comments on the…