Bees are dying at an
alarming rate, awash in a deluge of highly toxic pesticides unleashed by Dow,
Bayer, Monsanto and Syngenta. The Environmental Protection Agency
concedes that these chemicals are “highly toxic to bees,” yet it’s done
virtually nothing to rein in the pesticide-free-for-all. Missing in their
calculations is the fact that the $ 9-billion a year food industry is circling
the drain.
If we don’t act now,
it’s only a matter of time before this crisis turns into a full-blown
catastrophe affecting our food supply, food prices and much more. We must get the EPA to stop acting on behalf
of big chemical companies’ profits and to start protecting imperiled bees. The EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy needs to take these bee-killing
pesticides off the market and impose an immediate moratorium on their use!
Of 100 major crops,
more than 70 are pollinated by bees -- along with countless flowers and
vegetables in millions of backyard gardens across America.
How can it be that
these vital, once-thriving pollinators are dying in such massive numbers?
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| honeybee pollinating |
The agri-tech giants have been pushing a class of deadly
pesticides known as neonicotinoids -- or “neonics.” Millions of acres of crops
have been doused with these potent chemicals. These pesticides are also sold on
store shelves for our lawns, gardens and landscaping. Instead, the agency has
said that it wants to wait five
years to “review” the impacts of neonics on bee colonies! I don’t know
about you, but neither I nor the bees should have to wait 5 years.
OWEN YOST, in
addition to being a blogger, is a licensed Landscape Architect emeritus who has
lived and worked in north Texas for over 30 years. He is the recipient of a
Lifetime Achievement Award of the Native Plant Society of Texas, and is a
member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International
Federation of Landscape Architects, National Wildlife Federation and the
Audubon Society. His office is at Yost87@charter.net in Denton.
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