A truth-in-labeling bill to once more make sure plants and seeds labelled "pollinator-friendly" are in fact free of the poisons that might weaken or kill them was heard in the Minnesota House Ag & Food Policy and Finance Division Tuesday.
Here's beekeeper Erin Rupp testifying in favor of the bill (full testimony in the video below0:
Listening to Erin Rupp with @pollinatemn testifying in favor of HF 1908 https://t.co/PHksGK9ZCR ๐๐๐ #mnleg #pollinator #savethebees pic.twitter.com/Rsp7u4TLRU
โ Rep. Rick Hansen (@reprickhansen) March 12, 2019
To understand why this bill is necessary, we must ask reader to hop on the Bluestem Prairie way back machine.
Once upon a time--say April 2014--we posted that HF2798, pollinator-friendly plant labeling bill, was scheduled for House vote on Tuesday, April 29. On April 29, 2014, we reported in Kurt Daudt and the Neonicotinoid Nine: pollinator-friendly plant labeling bill passes 118 to 10:
Tuesday, the Minnesota House of Representatives voted 118 to 10 in favor of HF2798, a bill prohibiting plants treated with pollinator lethal insecticide from being labeled or advertised as beneficial to pollinators.
It doesn't the sale of plants treated with "pollinator lethal insecticides," merely prevents customers who wish to help bees and other pollinators from being misled. It's a truth-in-labeling consumer bill that will help Minnesotans help bees and other pollinators. . . .
Sadly, ten legislators couldn't bring themselves to support this common sense measure. They are: Mark Anderson, Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, Steve Drazkowski, Sondra Erickson, Tom Hackbarth, Jerry Hertaus, Brian Johnson, Jim Newberger, Joyce Peppin and Peggy Scott.
A friend recommends calling them Kurt Daudt and the Neonicotinoid Nine.
It's not just a feel-good measure. Pollinators are essential for a significant percentage of food from plants, ranging from apples to squash.
In the Fall 2014 elections, Kurt Daudt's caucus captured the Minnesota House. In the Spring of 2015, we were sad to report in What's a little poison between friends? Industry to have way with MN pollinator-friendly labeling:
It looks like the agrichemical and nursery industries will have their way on pollinator-friendly labeling, the Star Tribune's Josephine Marcotty reports today in Legislature considers changes to nursery law installed last year.
The veteran environmental reporter writes:
A garden plant labeled โpollinator friendlyโ would no longer need to be free of insecticides, under a change in state law moving through the Legislature.
Last year, after pressure from gardeners and environmentalists, lawmakers passed a rule that nurseries could not market plants as bee- and butterfly-friendly if they were grown with the controversial class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, which have been implicated in the global decline of honeybees and other insects.
This year, the nursery industry has successfully pushed back. New language approved by the House Monday and before the Senate as early as today, says nurseries can advertise a flower as good for bees and butterflies as long as itโs not toxic enough to kill them after one sip of nectar or single load of pollen.
โThere is a level of pesticide that is safe for pollinators,โ said Tim Power, head of government affairs for the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association. โLast yearโs law was passed based on an emotional response rather than scientific facts.โ
Advocates who supported last yearโs rules change say the new language is misleading to gardeners, who assume that a label with a bee or butterfly on it means that itโs safe for insects.
โItโs not friendly,โ said Kristy Allen, a Minneapolis beekeeper who testified in favor of the original law last year. โItโs like saying, well, itโs OK to eat this food that has a little bit of poison because it wonโt affect you right away.โ
Moreover, it makes the law unwieldy, said Vera Krischik, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota who studies insecticides and insects. . . .
Find out how by reading the rest of the article. This being the case, Bluestem recommends buying only certified organic plants and seeds, or buying from a local nursery that you know doesn't use pesticides.
Now the DFL is back in control of the lower chamber, and Representative Rick Hansen, author of the 2014 language, chairs the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division. Today, he appeared before the House Ag and Food Division to offer HF1908, which would restore the 2014 language to Minnesota law.
Here's the testimony from Hansen, as well as others pro and con. Bluestem believes this is a good bill.
The bill was laid on the table for possible inclusion in the Omnibus Ag bill. Here's hoping this common sense, truth-in-labeling language is restored to law. It doesn't prevent the use of pesticides or sale of plant material that's been treated with pesticides to home gardeners. It merely assures that labels mean what they say.
Photo: A rusty-patched bumblebee, an endangered species which has a good chance of becoming Minnesota's state bee, if another of Hansen's bills passes. Bumblebees and many small native bees are often more sensitive to neonics and other pesticides, according to testimony on Tuesday. Photo via US Fish and Wildlife Service.
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