With Some Substantial Exceptions, MD Bans Neonic Pesticides
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Because Maryland is suffering from such noticeable losses, Finck-Hayes said that the bill garnered a large amount of public support throughout the legislative process, not only from beekeepers, but from environmental organizations, farm organizations, water quality organizations, and voters writ large. A 2015 poll conducted by the Maryland Pesticide Network found “enormous voter concern about risks posed by pesticides,” and overwhelming support for policies that would restrict or label neonicotinoid pesticides.
The Maryland Pollinator Protection Act constitutes only a partial ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, not a complete one. Certain parties — those that have been trained to use the pesticide, farmers, and veterinarians — can still use neonicotinoids. But consumers, like those looking for a pesticide for their home garden, will no longer be able to purchase neonicotinoids.
But even a partial ban, Finck-Haynes said, is an important step. “For someone that isn’t certified and doesn’t know how to use them, they might spray heavily. Making sure that we’re eliminating that use is a significant step in getting them out of the environment and helping to protect bees,” she said. “Different studies come out showing that for home garden use these products are used 120 times more.”
When talking about pesticide use in the United States, most see it as a symptom of large-scale industry agriculture. And, to some extent, it is: as Tom Philpott pointed out over at Mother Jones, nearly all of the corn planted in the United States -- some 90 million acres of cropland -- is grown from a seed treated with neonicotinoids. In their first full assessment on the risk of neonicotinoids, however, the EPA found that the pesticide posed a greater threat to honeybees when applied to some crops rather than others. Corn treated with neonicotinoids, they found, poses less of a threat than crops like citrus, which may have residues of the pesticide in the pollen at dangerously high levels.
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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/04/08/3767856/maryland-passes-bee-bill/