On April 13, Bluestem posted Buzz briefs: Bee Lucky lottery tickets; Lawns to Legumes wins Environmental Initative award.
Today, we received the following press release from the Minnesota Environmental Partnership Pollinator Cluster. We hope readers will take a look at it and the articles listed as references at the end of the statement. Here it is:
It’s going to take more than a bumble bee lottery scratch off to save pollinators. In the current legislative session, pollinator advocates, farmers, scientists and conservationists introduced a record number of bills regarding the use of toxic pesticides to the Minnesota legislature.
A coalition of nearly 40 national and local conservation groups including the Xerces Society, Land Stewardship Project, and Audubon Society brought forward five bills intended to abate or halt pesticide exposure in urban and rural areas, backyards, school yards, croplands, wildlife refuges and communities.
Among their efforts to enact environmentally protective legislation are bills banning chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate pesticide known for its damaging effects on the human nervous system, especially in children. It is highly toxic to animals and pollinators and is now a common contaminate in U.S. drinking water.
Another key effort by the coalition is legislation that would restrict the use and disposal of pesticide-coated corn and soy seed treated with neonicotinoids, a systemic pesticide. (“Neonics” have been banned for outdoor use by the European Union since 2018). Neonicotinoids remain the most common pesticides in Minnesota agriculture. Currently, pesticide-coated seeds are not handled as hazards in Minnesota since they fall into the same loophole category with pesticide-treated wood, plants, and seeds called “treated articles.”
An additional proposal would ban both neonicotinoids and chlorpyrifos from use in wildlife refuges, and another would give local communities jurisdiction over pesticide use for their own communities.
The proposed environmentally protective bills are facing opposition largely by Republican legislators. Rep. John Burkel (Dist. 1A) wanted to strip the treated seed provisions out of the Minnesota agriculture omnibus bill. Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen (Dist. 8) is trying to strip all provisions in the environment bills for pollinator protections including the successful Lawns to Legumes program. These and other legislators, according to coalition members, are influenced by multi-billion dollar agriculture and pesticide companies.
Research shows the current lack of adequate federal or state safeguards and enforcement in the handling, use and disposal of pesticides have resulted in widespread exposure of these carcinogenic substances, documented water contamination, food contamination, lethal and sublethal effects to pollinators, birds, deer, wildlife and humans.
Minnesota lags behind other states in several respects such as imposing a ban on chlorpyrifos, which has been adopted by Hawaii and California. In August 2018, a federal court ruled that the EPA must ban chlorpyrifos nationwide, and New York is leading a coalition of state attorneys general in suing the EPA for not yet enforcing a nationwide ban.
Although educational efforts to increase public awareness of the dangers of pesticide remain important, it’s not enough - legislation is required to adequately address insecticide pollution.
According to agricultural ecologists in the coalition, there are alternate methods to synthetic chemical use available to farmers, including regenerative practices. These non-toxic methods emphasize soil health, protecting pollinators and water quality and are increasing in popularity.
Farmer Lori Cox, owner of Roots Return Heritage Farm in Carver Minnesota, uses these chemical-free methods. Cox testified over the past month in both the agriculture and environmental committees of the Minnesota legislature to help pass this legislation.
“Some ag sectors believe it is a threat to their revenue, others don’t know how to make a change and it is difficult for them,” she said, explaining the resistance. “If Minnesota ag is to succeed at all, Covid has taught us it needs to succeed not just in certain sectors. To have a good, workable, accessible, profitable ag system throughout Minnesota, we have to grow it locally which includes our pollinator communities. The new group of emerging farmers in the last decade are important in our own communities and food sheds. The 2019 Minnesota Department of Agriculture study defined the profile of our new emerging farmer, and it spoke of these alternative ways, caring for the land and no use of chemicals.”
There’s an urgency in Lori’s voice that matches the urgency of beekeeper and President of Pollinator Stewardship Council, Steve Ellis “the science is here, and we have seen the evidence in our state and around the world. We are running out of time – it’s long past time for Minnesota to step up and take action as pollinator species continue to decline at disturbing rates.”
Selected support references:
Studies by Dr. Jonathan Lundgren of South Dakota, an agroecologist and former USDA scientist, document white tailed deer cannot carry fawns full term due to neonicotinoid poisoning https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-40994-9
MDA Emerging Farmer's Working Group Legislative Report Emerging Farmers' Working Group legislative report (state.mn.us)
SENATE PANEL AGAIN TRIES TO ALTER PROJECTS WITH CONSTITUTIONAL BACKING: 2019 Projects tied to lottery proceeds are into bill Star Tribune, April 9, 2021 https://www.startribune.com/senate-panel-again-tries-to-alter-projects-with-constitutional-backing/600043831/
IN AG OMNIBUS BILL, MINNESOTA IS NOT QUITE SO POISED TO LEAD AN ENVIRONMENTAL BREAKTHROUGH: Bluestem Prairie, April 7, 2021 https://www.bluestemprairie.com/bluestemprairie/2021/04/in-ag-omnibus-bill-minnesota-is-not-quite-so-poised-to-lead-an-environmental-breakthrough.html
Research shows that neonicotinoid and chlorpyrifos insecticides kill pollinators outright or sicken them at sublethal doses as well as contaminate water (Five surface water pesticides of concern, Minnesota MDA 2020). These chemicals adversely affect birds (Neonic reduces migration in songbirds, Eng 2019) and also affect large mammals (Effects of neonics on physiology and reproduction of white-tailed deer, Berheim 2019).
PESTICIDES IN MINNESOTA WATERS: Minnesota Department of Agriculture, surface water pesticides of concern (2020) https://www.mda.state.mn.us/surface-water-pesticides-concern
Neonic-treated seed in ag landscape harmful to wildlife study:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6793935/
NEONIC EFFECTS ON LARGE MAMMALS: Scientific Reports: Effects of Neonicotinoid Insecticides on Physiology and Reproductive Characteristics of Captive Female and Fawn White-tailed Deer. Elise Hughes Berheim, Jonathan A. Jenks, Jonathan G. Lundgren, et al. volume 9, Article number: 4534 (2019) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-40994-9
POLLINATOR DECLINE: Xerces Society: The science behind the role neonics play in harming bees. Jennifer Hopwood, Aimee Code, Mace Vaughan et al. (2016) https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/2018-05/16-023_01_XercesSoc_ExecSummary_How-Neonicotinoids-Can-Kill-Bees_web.pdf
NEONIC EFFECTS ON SONGBIRDS: Science: A neonicotinoid insecticide reduces fueling and delays migration in songbirds. Margaret L. Eng, LeBridget, J. M. Stutchbury, Christy A. Morrissey. Issue 13 Sep 2019: Vol. 365, Issue 6458, pp. 1177-1180. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6458/1177
Catastrophe in Nebraska. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/10/mead-nebraska-ethanol-plant-pollution-danger
German study examining 63 nature preserves finds 75% of insect biomass declined from 1989 to 2013 due to nearby agricultural intensification. http://www.bouldercountybeekeepers.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Orbrioch-Nature-reserve.pdf
Facts about chlorpyrifos. https://www.panna.org/resources/chlorpyrifos-facts
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) designated these chemicals as Pesticides of Concern, as stated on MDA’s website: “On February 10, 2020, a notice was published in the Minnesota State Register of the Commissioner’s preliminary decision to designate three neonicotinoid insecticides, clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam, as “surface water pesticides of concern” (State Register Volume 44, Number 33
Center for Disease Control, US Dept of Health and Human Services – toxicology of chlorpyrifos: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp84.pdf
INSECTICIDE COATED SEED CONTAMINATES NEBRASKA COMMUNITY AT ETHANOL PLANT
January 2021: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/10/mead-nebraska-ethanol-plant-pollution-danger
EPA ASKS FOR BAN ON PET COLLARS CONTAINING PESTICIDE, PROPOXUR
PESTICIDE COATED SEED CONTAMINATION IN NEBRASKA
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/10/mead-nebraska-ethanol-plant-pollution-danger
POLLINATOR DECLINE: Xerces Society: The science behind the role neonics play in harming bees. Jennifer Hopwood, Aimee Code, Mace Vaughan et al. (2016)
RESULTS OF PESTICIDE STUDY OF NEONIC EXPOSURE TO WHITE-TAILED DEER IN MINNESOTA
March 1, 201, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
NEONIC EFFECTS ON SONGBIRDS: Science: A neonicotinoid insecticide reduces fueling and delays migration in songbirds. Margaret L. Eng, LeBridget, J. M. Stutchbury, Christy A. Morrissey. Issue 13 Sep 2019: Vol. 365, Issue 6458, pp. 1177-1180. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6458/1177
FACTS ABOUT CHLORPYRIFOS. Pesticide Action Network. https://www.panna.org/resources/chlorpyrifos-facts
CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL, US DEPT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Toxicology of chlorpyrifos: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp84.pdf
We're almost afraid to mention No Mow May. See the University of MN Bee Squad Facebook post about it.
Related posts:
- After robust mark-up, Minnesota House omnibus agriculture bill gains approval on 9-4 vote
- Lawns to Legumes program earned great media for MN; 5 GOP senators want to rob funding
- BWSR accepting applications for Lawns to Legumes grants for Fall 2020 projects
- BWSR accepting applications from MN residents, local orgs for Lawns to Legumes Grants
- O! my! Minnesota's #Lawns2Legumes makes Live Your Best Life list in Oprah Magazine
- MN Corn Growers Association "watched" plan to list new state bee as endangered, part one
Images: Hibernating honeybees (above).#NoMowMay graphic created by University of Minnesota undergraduate Bee Squadder, Stephen Tolentino.
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