Write to your elected representatives and demand neonicotinoids be banned outright.
Reports show the Environmental Protection Agency is advancing the interests of Chemical manufacturers over the public interest for an ecologically viable nature. The plan would continue emergency use exemptions for a family of pesticides environmentalists say harms nature's insect populations and therefore a critical element in the web of life.
The plan, if ‘green-lighted’ would extend an emergency use authorization to 4 types of neonicotinnoids for continued use for another 15 years.
Tragically, pesticides kill without discrimination. The toxins seep into all areas of life, underground water supplies and into the human body.
The science is in, according to Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, cited by The Guardian. He said, “It defies all logic to say an emergency has been going on for nine years, the process has been clearly abused.”
Donley said, “The science is so conclusive that these chemicals are harmful to the environment that this emergency exemption process is being used as a backdoor approval that goes on forever…We really are at a crossroads – we can follow the science and the rest of the world or we can go out on our own and appease the chemical industry.”
Caught in the crosshairs of Big Chemical’s pursuit for profits, the domesticated honey bee populations, worth billions of dollars to farmers who rely on the bees to pollinate their fruit crops, are at risk of total collapse, unless the chemicals are prohibited. Shell and Bayer developed the chemicals in the 1980's and 90's.
In light of the evidence supporting the science, Europeans have outlawed the neonicotinoid chemicals. In the USA, one lawsuit endeavors to stop the use of the poisons, but without a doubt, the science shows the toxins need to stop. As advocates for restoring the web of life and drawing Ecological Wisdom from Nature, we support making demands that the FDA to do its duty to look out for the 'general welfare' and not for corporate welfare.
Pacific Green Party of Oregon encourages our members and others to write to our elected representatives to demand the Environmental Protections Agency not extend the emergency use for neonicotinoids and follow the example of Europe and ban the toxic chemicals outright as the harm they cause to Nature exceeds any benefit to agricultural production.
-30-