By Patti Wood
Kids get it. If you poison pollinators, you are putting Earth’s ecosystems in jeopardy.
Pollination, a nearly invisible natural process going on in backyards, farms, forests and meadows, is essential to support life on Earth. Pollinators visit flowers seeking nectar and pollen for food where they accidentally brush against the flower’s reproductive parts, unknowingly depositing pollen from flower to flower. Plants then use the pollen to produce a fruit or seed. Why, say our children, would people kill pollinators, like honeybees and butterflies, with pesticides?
That question, and colorful accompanying artwork created by some of our youngest citizens, were recently sent to Gov.Kathy Hochul in an effort to urge her to sign the Birds and Bees Protection Act (A7640/S1856-A) which was passed in the NYS Legislature and is on the governor’s desk waiting for her signature.
The bill is a first-in-the-nation call to restrict the use of neonicotinoid, or “neonic” pesticides, and will set an important precedent for other states. It calls for restricting the pesticide’s use in lawn and garden products as well as its most ubiquitous use – coating seeds used in agriculture.
Indisputable scientific data points to these particular insecticides, the most widely used in the world, as the main culprit for pollinator losses. Europe has banned the three most common neonics and Quebec has phased out corn and soybean neonic seed coating treatments. According to research by the Natural Resources Defense Council, just one neonic-treated corn seed has enough active ingredient to kill a quarter million bees.
How do neonics actually kill pollinators? They kill by attacking the nerves and don’t let go of the nerve site, over-stimulating it until it fails. The insects shake uncontrollably before becoming paralyzed and dying. Nerve damage is permanent, and small doses that are not immediately lethal harm the bees’ ability to navigate, interrupt their growth and reproduction and slowly destroy their immune function, which may make them more vulnerable to disease.
Pollinators are declining worldwide due to the same factors that threaten all biodiversity, which include loss of habitat, pesticide use, disease, parasites and invasive species. While some of these problems are highly complex and without clear solutions, pesticide use can and should be addressed urgently. In 2015 alone, over 40% of honey bee colonies in the United States were lost and the numbers are increasing yearly. Wild bees, which are key pollinators, and Monarch butterflies are threatened with extinction, as well as other pollinator insects and birds. This year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made an unprecedented finding that neonics could be sending more than 200 species toward extinction.
Let’s look at how much humans depend on pollinators. Bees, butterflies, birds, bats, beetles and even small mammals pollinate plants and between 75% and 90% of all flowering plants. About 180,000 different plant species and more than 1,200 food crops on Earth need their help with pollination. This translates into one out of every three bites of food, including vegetables, fruits, and nuts.
From an economic perspective, pollinators add $217 billion to the global economy and, according to the US Department of Agriculture, pollinators provide approximately $389 million worth of pollination services to New York State alone. Pollinators also support healthy ecosystems that increase carbon sequestration, provide food for other wildlife and insure the health of plants that stabilize soils and protect from severe weather events. And they are not on anyone’s payroll or costing taxpayers a single penny!
But there is a cost to humans from neonic use. According to a recent article written by Dan Raichel and Richard Schrader from NRDC, neonics are easily carried long distances in rainwater, leaching into new soils, plant life and public water sources. The buildup of neonics from their extensive use year after year have made them pervasive in New York’s water supplies, especially on Long Island, where millions depend on underground aquifers. Only advanced filtration systems remove neonics from water.
Researchers are also seeing neonics in our bodies. Recent testing shows 95% of pregnant women in New York State and four other states have detectable levels of neonics, raising concerns for birth defects and neurological harm in prenatally exposed children.
Dr. Samuel Myers, at Harvard University’s TH Chan School of Public Health says, “the loss of pollinators is already impacting health on a scale with other global health risk factors, such as prostate cancer or substance abuse disorders. But there is a solution out there in pollinator-friendly practices. This includes increasing flower abundance on farms, cutting pesticide use, especially neonicotinoids, and preserving or restoring nearby natural habitats.”
Importantly, Cornell University researchers continue to demonstrate that neonic seed coatings are practically useless and less effective than cover cropping for agriculture and there are much safer replacements for lawn and garden uses.
But the chemical industry is, as usual, sowing seeds of doubt and spouting misinformation. That’s to be expected. But the Birds and Bees Protection Act, which will eliminate 80 percent to 90 percent of the neonics polluting our state, has broad and bipartisan backing in the Legislature and the academic and scientific community and is widely supported by the public and much of the farming community.
Now we just need the governor to pick up a pen and sign it.