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John,
Just one little soybean seed can be deadly for bees at every stage of planting and growth.
Soybeans are one of the crops commonly coated with neonicotinoids, the class of pesticides known to kill bees. Neonic-treated seeds are used for at least 70% of the soybeans, wheat and corn planted in our country.[1]
And a single neonic-coated seed has enough of the chemical to kill 80,000 bees.[2]
Here's exactly how a single soybean seed can wreak havoc on bees and our environment:
Planters and tractors make light work of planting millions of soybean seeds in the ground. But the farm equipment churns up the seeds as they're distributed, rubbing some of the neonicotinoid coating off the seeds. That creates a toxic cloud of pesticides.
If the wind picks up, that deadly dust cloud can travel. A bee could fly through the cloud, breathe in the pesticide and die. The pesticide residue can also settle onto nearby habitat and poison bees when they go to pollinate nearby flowers.[3]
The planting process usually leaves behind some soybean seeds that never make it into the soil. For a bird, a pile of leftover seeds looks like a tasty snack. But even if a bird only eats one neonic-covered seed, the coating on one seed is toxic enough to kill a songbird.[4]
200 red-winged blackbirds died in 2016 after eating wheat seeds coated with neonics.[5]
The soybean seeds that made it into the ground start to grow. But 95% of the pesticide residue doesn't stay on the seed itself. Some of it leaches into the soil or washes off into nearby waters.[6]
Many wild bees make nests in the ground. If the soil is contaminated with neonics, it could hurt ground-nesting bees. And once the pesticides get into a waterway, all sorts of wildlife could be exposed to toxic neonics.
Underneath the green leafy canopy of the soybean plant are tiny purple flowers that are often visited by bees.
Soybeans mostly rely on self-pollination, but some studies have shown that visits by wild bees can help increase soybean crop yields.[7] And of course for the bees, they're visiting the flowers to collect the pollen they need to survive.
But because the soybean plant was grown with neonics, the pollen bees collect is laced with neonics too. A bee exposed to neonics can lose cognitive function -- which means the bee can't find its way home. Higher doses or repeat exposure can paralyze and eventually kill a bee.[8]
Now fully grown, the soybean crops are harvested. But even though coating the soybeans seeds with neonics was supposed to help produce more soybeans, it didn't increase yields.
A decade ago, the Environmental Protection Agency's own research found practically no benefits to coating soybean seeds with neonics.[9]
This is what happens when our default is to use toxic chemicals, and ask questions later. Bees, birds and other wildlife are killed, and wild bee species hurtle closer to extinction. So what was it all for?
A single seed coated with neonics is deadly. But it's not just one seed -- it's seeds on 150 million acres of U.S. agriculture.[10] On that massive scale, it's too difficult for bees to avoid our toxic environment.
Treating seeds with neonics by default, even when it has no little or no positive impact on crop yields, is wasteful and harms pollinators for no good reason. Farmers should be able to find and use seeds without neonics.
That's why we're working to restrict the worst uses of bee-killing pesticides, including neonic-coated seeds.
Together, we can save the bees.
Ellen Montgomery
P.S. Bees are hard-pressed to escape deadly pesticides and the toxic environment surrounding them. Donate today to help save the bees.
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1. Jonathan Hettinger, "EPA says three widely used pesticides driving hundreds of endangered species toward extinction," Missouri Independent, July 27, 2023.
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2. Erin Hodgson and Christian Krupke, "Insecticidal Seed Treatments can Harm Honey Bees," Iowa State University, April 6, 2012.
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3. Wayne Bailey, et. al., "The Effectiveness of Neonicotinoid Seed Treatments in Soybean," Purdue University, December 1, 2015.
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4. Kimberly A Stoner, "Best Management Practices for Farmers Using Seeds Treated With Neonicotinoid Insecticides," Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, January 1, 2017.
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5. Don E. Woods, "Did a pesticide cause 200 birds to die in South Jersey?," NJ.com, January 20, 2017.
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6. Elizabeth Royte, "These widely used insecticides may be a threat to mammals too," National Geographic, February 5, 2021.
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7. Lisa Schulte Moore and Fred Love, "Pollinating insects can help soybean yields," Iowa State University, May 25, 2021.
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8. Oliver Milman, "Fears for bees as US set to extend use of toxic pesticides that paralyse insects," The Guardian, March 8, 2022.
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9. "Benefits of Neonicotinoid Seed Treatments to Soybean Production," Environmental Protection Agency, October 3, 2014.
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10. Elizabeth Royte, "These widely used insecticides may be a threat to mammals too," National Geographic, February 5, 2021.
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