John,

Neonicotinoids (neonics) are a class of pesticides that are incredibly toxic to pollinators, and they're used on 150 million acres of farmland each year.1

Most of these pesticides find their way onto farms through seeds, which are coated in neonics strong enough to kill a songbird.2

They're toxic, they can spread far beyond where they're planted, and they kill the very pollinators that we need to grow many essential crops -- neonics are just a bad idea all around.

We need to get neonic-coated seeds off the market: Send a message to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today.

One of your meals today might very well have made it to your plate because of bees.

We rely on bees to pollinate an incredible one-third of our food. Why put that miracle of nature at risk through the reckless use of bee-killing pesticides?3

And yet neonics are the most widely used insecticides in the world, with 4 million pounds of these bee-killing chemicals used across the country every year.4

These pesticide-coated seeds are, in part, so dangerous because the chemicals don't stay on the plant. Rather, they are absorbed by the plant, swirled into the air through disturbed soil, and leached into groundwater. That's bad for bees, and for us.5

We don't want pollinators or our communities to be exposed to neonics. That's what happened to the people in one Nebraska community, which suffered health and neurological impacts after neonic pesticides leached into their water from a nearby ethanol plant that had used neonic-coated corn seeds.6

There are safer, better ways to grow our food. Tell the EPA: Ban dangerous neonic-coated seeds.

John, do you want to know something that really baffled me when I learned it? Studies have found that neonic-coated seeds can actually reduce crop yields because they kill off the natural predators of the target pests.7

We shouldn't allow neonics to be spread across tens of millions more acres of farmland when the consequences so clearly outweigh the benefits.

By sending a message to the EPA, we can help ban neonic-coated seeds across the country, protecting our pollinators, health and environment from dangerous toxic chemicals. Add your name today.

Thank you,

Faye Park
President

1. Steve Blackledge, "The loophole that lets toxic seeds kill birds and poison bees," Environment America, January 27, 2023.
2. Steve Blackledge, "The loophole that lets toxic seeds kill birds and poison bees," Environment America, January 27, 2023.
3. Brianna Randall, "The Value of Birds and Bees," Farmers.gov, June 22, 2020.
4. "Effects of Neonicotinoid Pesticide Exposure on Human Health: A Systematic Review," National Library of Medicine, July 6, 2016.
5. Kimberly A. Stoner, "Best Management Practices for Farmers Using Seeds Treated With Neonicotinoid Insecticides," Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, January 1, 2017.
6. Diana Kruzman, "How a Nebraska ethanol plant turned seeds into toxic waste," Grist, April 21, 2022.
7. Steve Blackledge, "The loophole that lets toxic seeds kill birds and poison bees," Environment America, January 27, 2023.

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