Neonicotinoid, known as “neonics” for short, is a farm pesticide produced primarily by the German chemical giant Bayer, widely used in the U.S. to coat a massive 142 million acres of corn, wheat, soy and cotton seeds. They are also common ingredients in many home gardening products. However, three new studies* link neonics to declining bee populations nationwide - fully a third of commercial beehives, over a million colonies, have disappeared over the past year. The pesticide works as a nerve poison, infecting their insect victims and interfering with their homing ability, which in turn prevents them from making it back to their hives.
Germany and France have already banned pesticides known to cause the death of bees and there is still time to save bees in this country if you follow suit.