To: The nation's top grocery retailers
Tell Grocery Stores: Say NO to Bee-killing Pesticides!
Dear grocery retailers,
Bees are essential to the production of one out of every three bites of food we eat. In fact, 71 of the 100 crops that provide 90 percent of the world’s food -- from almonds to tomatoes and strawberries -- are pollinated by bees. Honeybees, in particular, contribute nearly $20 billion to the U.S. economy and $217 billion to the global economy. Yet evidence is mounting that the health and productivity of these critical pollinators, along with many wild pollinators, is declining rapidly.
A growing body of science has implicated neonicotinoids (neonics), the world’s most widely used pesticide, as a key factor in recent global bee die-offs. Neonics are used as a seed coating on over 140 crops and this is a common exposure pathway for bees.
The EU has suspended popular neonics, the EPA has placed a moratorium on new or expanded uses of neonics and cities, states, federal agencies and garden retailers have taken steps to restrict their use.
Neonics aren’t the only pesticides harming bees and our current chemical-intensive industrial farming system is harming a host of important species from birds to ladybugs to earthworms as well as our soil and waterways.
According to an Oxford University meta study, organic farms support 50% more pollinator species than conventional, chemical-intensive agriculture.
As a concerned customer I ask that you help protect the bees and our food supply by committing to offer significantly more organic food options in your stores, while taking major steps to eliminate food produced with bee-killing pesticides.
Sincerely,
Bees are essential to the production of one out of every three bites of food we eat. In fact, 71 of the 100 crops that provide 90 percent of the world’s food -- from almonds to tomatoes and strawberries -- are pollinated by bees. Honeybees, in particular, contribute nearly $20 billion to the U.S. economy and $217 billion to the global economy. Yet evidence is mounting that the health and productivity of these critical pollinators, along with many wild pollinators, is declining rapidly.
A growing body of science has implicated neonicotinoids (neonics), the world’s most widely used pesticide, as a key factor in recent global bee die-offs. Neonics are used as a seed coating on over 140 crops and this is a common exposure pathway for bees.
The EU has suspended popular neonics, the EPA has placed a moratorium on new or expanded uses of neonics and cities, states, federal agencies and garden retailers have taken steps to restrict their use.
Neonics aren’t the only pesticides harming bees and our current chemical-intensive industrial farming system is harming a host of important species from birds to ladybugs to earthworms as well as our soil and waterways.
According to an Oxford University meta study, organic farms support 50% more pollinator species than conventional, chemical-intensive agriculture.
As a concerned customer I ask that you help protect the bees and our food supply by committing to offer significantly more organic food options in your stores, while taking major steps to eliminate food produced with bee-killing pesticides.
Sincerely,
Why is this important?
If we want to get bee-killing pesticides out of our food supply, our grocery stores need to stop selling food grown with bee-killing pesticides. You can help make that happen!
Sign the petition: Demand that grocery stores stop selling food grown with bee-killing pesticides!
Sign the petition: Demand that grocery stores stop selling food grown with bee-killing pesticides!