Trump’s EPA gave the okay to the ‘emergency’ use of sulfoxaflor, the bee-killing pesticide, on 13.9 million acres across 11 states.
Back in 2015, beekeepers sued to suspend the use of sulfoxaflor and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the EPA’s usage of this harmful pesticide saying there had not been enough studies made regarding the impact that the insecticide would have on honey bee colonies.
With more than 40 percent of the world’s insect population on the verge of extinction this next decade, why would such a move be approved?
Evidentially, there is a loophole in The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act “that allows for entities and states to request emergency exemptions to spraying pesticides where they otherwise wouldn’t be allowed to spray.”
According to Return to Now, the ‘emergency’ is “tarnished plant bugs on cotton fields and strawberry fields and sugarcane aphids on sorghum, a crop used in livestock feeds.” This problem is not a new problem and could be solved without the use of this harmful chemical.
With this action taken, our planet’s biodiversity is at serious risk. Texas, being one of the states to be sprayed with this pesticide, hosts an important migration route for monarch butterflies as well as is home to 800 native bee species and eight species of bumblebees. “Even at subacute, very low doses, sulfoxaflor will have a very dramatic effect on bumblebee reproduction,” says Environmental Health Director and Senior Attorney Lori Ann Burd.
Breaking: #Trump #EPA OKs ‘Emergency’ to Dump Bee-Killing Pesticide on 16 Million Acres “emergency” approvals 2 spray sulfoxaflor—an insecticide the agency considers “very highly toxic” 2 bees via @EcoWatch https://t.co/Iw4IZJ63x2 #savethebees #Pesticides
— Food Democracy Now! (@food_democracy) February 19, 2019
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