Banning Neonics and Chlorpyrifos on State Lands: A product of years of advocacy by Pollinator Friendly Alliance, Pesticide Action Network, Pollinate Minnesota, NRDC, and other partners, a new law prohibits use of neonics and chlorpyrifos, a dangerous organophosphate pesticide banned for use in agriculture by EPA, on lands managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The law ensures that over 5.6 million acres of Minnesota land—about 11% of the state’s area—will be protected from these harmful insecticides.
The Longer Fight
Although there’s much more to celebrate—including increased funding for pollinator conservation, a program for developing pollinator habitat along highways, restrictions on PFAS-containing pesticides, and more—one disappointment is that the legislature did not pass HF 2472, a groundbreaking program for regulation of pesticide-coated crop seeds. These seeds represent the number one source of neonic pollution in Minnesota—covering upwards of 12 million acres of Minnesota farmland each year.
Neonic seed coatings are designed to be soaked up through the roots of the growing plant—permeating it and making all its parts toxic to insects. The problem, however, is that only 2-5% of the chemicals are absorbed, leaving the other 95% in the environment, where they are easily carried by rain and irrigation water to contaminate new soils, waters, and even wild plants. With just one neonic-coated corn seed has enough active ingredient to kill a quarter million bees, and 30,000 seeds planted per acre, the math gets ugly quickly.
Adding insult to injury, research shows that the most common uses of neonic seed treatments—like corn and soybean—provide no net economic benefits to farmers. They may even hurt farmers by degrading soil health and killing off beneficial insects that prey on crop pests.
Because of a loophole in both federal and state pesticide law, treated seeds are not regulated as pesticides. This means that regulations designed protect people and ecosystems from the harms of pesticides simply don’t apply to treated seeds.
But in this near-unprecedented session, even this setback comes with a silver lining: the legislature passed other, more incremental legislation that directs the Department of Agriculture to take steps to ensure that treated seeds are used and discarded safely. NRDC will be working to ensure that this legislation results in the most protective regulations possible.
