Congressmen can bee friendly, too.
A pair of Democrats, Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Earl Bluemenauer (D-OR), introduced the Saving America's Pollinators Act of 2013, legislation that if passed, would require the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily suspend the use of certain insecticides in an attempt to stop massive honeybee die-offs.
The introduction of the legislation is timely—last month, Oregon experienced what is believed to be the largest-recorded pollinator die-off in state history, an event set off after a local landscaping business treated flowering trees with neonicotinoid insecticides. "Pollinators are not only vital to a sustainable environment, but key to a stable food supply," says Blumenauer. "When incidents like the alarming mass bee die-off of more than 50,000 bumblebees that happened recently in Wilsonville, Oregon, occur, it is imperative that we take a step back to make sure we understand all the factors involved and move swiftly to prevent similar tragedies from happening in the future."
The unprecedented bumblebee die-off was evidence enough for Oregon to take action, with the state instituting a ban on certain neonicotinoid insecticides for the next 6 months.
The federal legislation, though, calls for national bee-protection measures for two years. The representatives say it's not just an environmental issue, but a food security issue, too. "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," Conyers said in a statement. "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 of 2013 calls for the EPA to suspend the registration of certain neonicotinoids, chemicals that independent scientists have repeatedly linked to colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon that has decimated hive populations across the globe. The neonicotinoids, which are often coated onto genetically engineered corn seeds, travel through the plant and into the pollen, where bees collect it and often later show signs of neuroligcal damage, sometimes forgetting how to forage, eat, and find their way home.
The proposed legislation calls for a 2-year suspension of imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamexthoxam, and dinotafuran. "If it passes, we also need to set up an independent task force to accurately tally the numbers of bee colonies in the next 2 years," explains Chensheng (Alex) Lu, PhD, associate professor of environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health. "I say so because the core value of this bill, in my opinion, is to give bees a break by taking away neonicotinoids from the environment for 2 years. If neonicotinoids are truly the reason of bee population decline, we will see a rebound of the numbers of bees."
The bill would also require the Secretary of the Interior to work with the EPA to regularly monitor the health and population status of native bees, too.
Take action! Tell your reps to support the Saving America's Pollinators Act of 2013.
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