insecticide

Maryland has nearly become the first state in the U.S. to ban the sale of neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides which are a major contributor to the decline of honeybees.
Two bills previously cleared the Maryland State Senate and Maryland House of Delegates. The bills’ similarities were to likely to result in them being combined into a single piece of legislation to be sent to Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s desk, where it could be signed into law.

More than 1000 pesticides are used in the US, and who knows how many of these have contributed to colony collapse disorder, the strange and sudden death of one of our most important pollinating species – bees. In a new study released by researchers in Poland, 57 specific pesticides have been named for poisoning bees.

Monsanto isn’t too happy about what they are calling ‘rumors’ linking its larvicide to microcephaly, the shrunken head and brain-damaged baby phenomenon currently being blamed on the Zika virus.

The New Year starts with more positive news. Aldi Süd, a German supermarket chain with stores in the U.S., has become the first major European retailer to ban pesticides toxic to bees, including the neonicotinoids imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam, from all produce sold in their stores. [1]
The announcement was made January 1st, with the retailer expecting fruit and vegetable suppliers for their stores to comply with their new policy ASAP. The following pesticides will no longer be tolerated:

The US Appeals Court has ruled that federal regulators should never have approved an insecticide that is harmful to pollinators, like bees. In this unprecedented ruling, it was found that the EPA used flawed and limited data. This heralds a changing tide which will finally hold the biotech industry and industrial agriculture accountable for the mass die-offs of our pollinators.