A bipartisan letter by 58 state House members to Speaker Robert DeLeo and Ways and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey calls for a vote before the recess on legislation to protect pollinators from neonicotinoid pesticides.
“This bill takes commonsense steps to protect pollinators, which are vital to the health of our food supply, agricultural economy and environment in Massachusetts by reducing the widespread use of pesticides that are contributing to their decline,” they wrote.
The bill would regulate consumer use of neonicotinoid pesticides by requiring applicators be licensed and by labeling plants so consumers buying them know if neonicotinoids have been used on them.
But area Reps. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, Susannah Whipps Lee, R-Athol, and Paul Mark, D-Peru, did not sign the letter. Both Kulik and Whipps Lee said they have had their minds on other matters in the closing days of this session. Whipps Lee added, “I certainly will support this bill if it comes before the House.”
Mark, who is a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, could not be reached for comment.
The pesticides are believed to kill and harm bees and other pollinators, like butterflies and birds, but while the legislation has widespread support from beekeepers, Dan Conlon of Warm Colors Apiary in Deerfield says he isn’t convinced the legislation would have the desired effect because there is insufficient evidence that neonicotinoids are a threat to bees. Conlon is a former president of the Massachusetts Beekeepers Association and the Franklin County Bee Association and has been on the board of the Eastern Apicultural Society.