It’s now clear that our decades-long love affair with pesticides is contributing to the worldwide collapse of bee colonies, with ramifications for all plants and animals — including us — that depend on these mighty pollinators. So a law that kicks in Jan. 1 will prevent California farmers from using a category of pesticides known as neonics, which have been particularly linked to bee harm at times when the insects are most likely to be foraging for food.
But while recent research increasingly links neonics both to broader ecosystem problems and to serious health conditions in humans, the new state regulations focus only on protections for bees.
There also are no rules, so far, limiting the use of neonics on ornamental plants or grass around California homes, businesses or parks, or in products such as pet flea medicines. Instead, while some manufacturers and retailers are heeding to these growing concerns and voluntarily pivoting away from neonics, the insecticide remains common in popular products.
Neonics and other pesticides — including some not approved for use in California — also end up in our soil, waterways, animals and people through the use of insecticide-coated seeds. Such seeds are widely used but currently unregulated in the state.
Two proposed laws backed by a coalition of Democratic lawmakers and environmental advocates aim to tackle these gaps.
One would make California regulators complete a study on how neonics impact pollinators, water systems and human health by July 2024. And the Department of Pesticide Regulation would have to adopt rules for using the pesticide on ornamental plants, trees and turf by July 2026.
Another bill would close the so-called “treated seed loophole,” which also is the subject of a lawsuit now pending against the state.
Supporters of the bills aren’t trying to ban all neonics, or to prohibit farmers from buying treated seeds, according to Lucas Rhoads, staff attorney for the National Resources…
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