Birds, bees act will stop needless neonics use

Mike Jordan’s commentary “Neonics ban would lead to more pesticide spraying,” Feb. 24, misrepresents the Birds and Bees Protection Act’s surgical scope by conflating it with another bill that has a broader reach.

The Birds and Bees Protection Act bans only neonic pesticide coatings on corn, soybean and wheat seeds, affecting no other fruits or vegetables. These “seed treatments” represent the state’s largest source of neonic pollution, driving mass bee and bird die-offs, water contamination, and rising levels in New York pregnant women (prompting alarms from state health experts).

Prohibitions on these seed treatments have not spurred more spraying in Europe, or in Ontario or Quebec, where they now represent less than 1 percent of the market. Many farmers have switched to diamide coatings — reportedly less toxic to bees, birds and people — while others have dropped insecticide coatings altogether.

Indeed, it is neonic seed treatments that have driven insecticide-treated acres up. Before such treatments, only 35 percent and 5 percent of U.S. corn and soybean acres, respectively, were treated with an insecticide all season, but now those numbers are near 100 percent and 50 percent just for seed coatings.

With cherry production “pollinator-limited” nationwide, and fruit and vegetable production down 3 to 5 percent globally because of a lack of pollinators, Jordan should understand the need to save bees. The Birds and Bees Protection Act does so by eliminating needless uses or those most easily replaced with safer alternatives.

Guilderland Conservation and development program manager, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter