Ontario Government Moving Towards Eliminating 80% Of Neonic Pesticides In Move To Protect Bees

[hatrack]

EDIT

Ontario could become the first jurisdiction in North America to regulate neonicotinoid pesticides, while Europe is halfway through a two-year moratorium on their use.

Bee deaths in Ontario reached a record 58 percent last winter, and the government says this group of pesticides is at least partly to blame, putting crops and honey production worth about Can$923 million (US$820 million) annually at risk.

"Improving pollinator health is not a luxury but a necessity," said Ontario Environment Minister Glen Murray. The government said in a statement it will aim for an 80 percent reduction in the number of acres planted with neonicotinoid-treated corn and soybean seed by 2017.

Public consultations on the proposal are set to begin soon. If approved, the new rules will be in place by July 1, 2015, in time for the 2016 agricultural planting season. This action comes after the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency linked bee deaths in Canada to the planting of corn and soybean seeds treated with neonicotinoids.

EDIT

http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/In_first_Ontario_may_regulate_bee-killing_pesticides_999.html

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Good for them. Now if the US would stand up to Monsanto et al and do the same.

[hatrack]

2. Yeah, I'm just waiting for this to run into NAFTA/WTO rules

Encouraging as far as it goes, however . . .