"In a holiday gift to the state’s bees, birds, and people just before the end of the year, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the Birds and Bees Protection Act (A.7640-Glick/S.1856A-Hoylman-Sigal)—a first-in-the-nation law to rein in dangerous and wasteful uses of neonicotinoids or “neonics.”
For those who’ve read past blogs on the bill, you know that neonics are the most-used insecticides in the country, and increasingly considered some of the most ecologically destructive pesticides since DDT. Long linked to mass losses of bees and other pollinators that have driven down crop production, neonics have made U.S. agriculture 48-times more harmful to insects, prompting EPA to make the unprecedented finding that neonics likely jeopardize the continued existence of 200+ threatened and endangered species—roughly ~11% of the entire endangered species list.
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Under the new law, New York will become the first state in the nation to restrict the use of neonic coatings on corn, soybean, and wheat seeds. Extensive state-commissioned report, ongoing statewide field research, and real world experience show these coatings provide no economic benefits to farmers, yet they remain the largest, most widespread, and most destructive use of neonics both in New York and nationwide, covering hundreds of millions of acres."
Source: Daniel Raichel, Director, Pollinators & Pesticides, Nature of the on January 4, 2024
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