Friend,

Humble and hardworking, the rusty patched bumblebee has pollinated plants across North America for millions of years.

Today, though, times are tough. Following a devastating 90% population decline since the 1990s -- driven in large part by pesticide use -- the rusty patched became the first bumblebee in the continental U.S. to be listed as endangered in 2017.1

Fortunately, we have a chance to make the planet a little safer for the rusty patched bumblebee. Right now, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reviewing the pesticide cyantraniliprole, which the agency acknowledges could harm more than a third of all endangered and threatened species, including the rusty patched bumblebee.2

Tell the EPA: Give the rusty patched bumblebee a chance and ban the toxic pesticide cyantraniliprole unless and until it can be proven safe.

You don't have to know how to pronounce cyantraniliprole to know that it's bad for our environment.

Introduced nearly a decade ago, this toxic pesticide is applied to crops, turf and urban landscapes across the country -- in other words, places you're likely to find bees. And it doesn't just stay where it's sprayed. The pesticide can drift from fields and runoff into waterways, putting ecosystems at risk.

The EPA's own assessment shows that cyantraniliprole is likely to harm more than 600 of the 1,718 species that are listed as endangered or threatened, including the rusty patched bumblebee.3

Cyantraniliprole was approved without first determining its effect on endangered and threatened species. But now the research is in, and it's not too late to correct the course. The EPA is currently reviewing cyantraniliprole and is accepting public comments between now and April 2.

Make sure the EPA hears from you. Submit your public comment urging the EPA to act on this toxic pesticide today.

Friend, spring is right around the corner. Trees are budding and blooms are beginning to poke up from the earth, waiting for the right bee to buzz by.

When rusty patched bumblebees emerge from their winter hibernation to continue the hard work their species has done for millennia, let's make sure the world they reawaken to is a little safer.

Add your name to help protect the rusty patched bumblebee from this pesticide today.

Thank you,

Ellen Montgomery

1. Michael Greshko, "First U.S. Bumblebee Officially Listed as Endangered," National Geographic, March 22, 2017.
2. "EPA Releases Draft Biological Evaluation of Cyantraniliprole's Effects on Endangered Species," Environmental Protection Agency, January 31, 2023.
3. "EPA Releases Draft Biological Evaluation of Cyantraniliprole's Effects on Endangered Species," Environmental Protection Agency, January 31, 2023.