{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.countable.us/bill/photo/hr1337-116/featured_saving-america-s-pollinators-act-of-2019-1553573061.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.countable.us/bill/photo/hr1337-116/featured_large_saving-america-s-pollinators-act-of-2019-1553573061.jpg","shareable":"https://n.countable.us/share-images/bills/hr1337-116.png"},"introduced_on":"2019-02-25","title_override":"Banning Insecticides That Harm Bees and Other Pollinators","summary_override":"

This bill would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suspend the registration — i.e. halt the sale and distribution — of plant, tree, and soil insecticides that bees are attracted to. It would bar the use of these products until the EPA has determined that they will not cause unreasonable harm to \"pollinators.\" Pollinators in this case are defined as native bees, honeybees, birds, bats, and other species of beneficial insects.

Determining the effects of these insecticides on pollinators would be based on:

An evaluation of the published and peer-reviewed scientific evidence on whether the use of these insecticides has adverse effects on pollinators; and
A field study supervised by the EPA Administrator that evaluates residues, annual residual build-up, chronic low-dose exposure, and the cumulative effects of multiple chemical exposures

This bill would prohibit the EPA Administrator from lifting the ban on the insecticides listed in this act until the study has come to solid conclusions. The insecticides in question are used for seed treatment, soil application, and foliar treatment on bee attractive plants, trees, and grains; imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, dinotafuran, and any other members of the nitro group of neonicotinoid insecticides.

The Secretary of the Interior and EPA Administrator would be required to monitor the health and population status of native bees in annual public reports to Congress, and identify the scope and likely cause of unusual native bee mortality.

This year's version of this bill would also establish a Pollinator Protection Board consisting of expert scientists, beekeepers, farmers, members of environmental organizations and other key stakeholders to conduct annual reviews of potentially bee-toxic pesticides.

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Banning Insecticides That Harm Bees and Other Pollinators