John,

Spring is in the air, and bees are buzzing brightly over the first blooms of the season.

But for some of these pollinators, when they go to land on a colorful flower, they might find a toxic surprise instead.

We rely on bees to pollinate 71 of the 100 most important food crops in the world, but the use of toxic neonic pesticides is making the agricultural landscape deadly to them.[1] Tell your governor: Ban toxic pesticides.

Bees pollinate much of our food, but that essential function is being threatened. Without them, we could lose some of our favorite foods, including apples, melons and broccoli.[2]

Neonicotinoids, or neonics for short, are one of the most widely used types of pesticides, but they're incredibly harmful to the pollinators we depend on. Even if the chemicals aren't immediately lethal to bees, neonics can still cause permanent damage to bees' brains, weaken their immune systems, and harm their ability to navigate to their hives.[3]

And once they're in the environment, neonics are hard, if not impossible, to control. The pesticides are blown by the air, fall on the soil, and leach into groundwater. They may even find their way to neighboring fields, where pesticide-coated seeds were never planted.[4]

The risk of using neonics far outweighs any potential benefit, especially when there are safer ways of growing our food. Send a message to your governor urging they to get these toxic pesticides out of our environment.
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The problem may feel insurmountable when 4 million pounds of these bee-killing pesticides are used on cropland across the country every year.[5,6]

But supporters like you have already helped our national network make progress on stopping the use of neonics, including:

* Winning commitments from Lowe's and Home Depot to phase out the sale of some neonic pesticides.
* Requiring the Department of Defense to manage 11 million acres of military lands in a manner that protects pollinators.
* Passing restrictions on some of the worst uses of neonics in 10 states and counting.[7]
* Calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the worst uses of neonics nationwide.



Will you help keep the momentum going? Send a message to your governor today to help protect our pollinators from toxic pesticides.
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Thank you,

Faye Park
President

1. Emily Rogers, "How the widespread use of a bee-killing pesticide is threatening our food supply," PIRG, December 12, 2022.
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2. Brianna Randall, "The Value of Birds and Bees," Farmers.gov, June 22, 2020.
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3. "Helping Agriculture's Helpful Honey Bees," U.S. Food and Drug Administration, July 30, 2018.
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4. Aleksandra Leska, et al., "Effects of Insecticides and Microbiological Contaminants on Apis mellifera Health," National Library of Medicine, August 22, 2021.
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5. Jim Kleinschmit, "Unknown Benefits, Hidden Costs - Neonicotinoid Seed Coatings, Crop Yields and Pollinators," Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, August 5, 2015.
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6. Andria M. Cimino, Abee L. Boyles, Kristina A. Thayer, Melissa J. Perry, "Effects of Neonicotinoid Pesticide Exposure on Human Health: A Systematic Review," Environmental Health Perspectives, February 2017.
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7. Wendy Wendlandt, "What's being done to save the bees?," Environment America, June 14, 2023.
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