Two bills introduced in the Michigan House are intended to save pollinators—and, by extension, help protect Michigan’s crops and biodiversity. One targets a type of pesticide, and the other focuses on milkweed, a plant that monarch butterflies need to survive.
H.B. 4858 bans neonicotinoid pesticides from being used on public lands. Neonicotinoids (or “neonics”) are the most widely used class of insecticides in the world, and they are used both in agriculture and urban and suburban landscapes. Neonics are intended to kill the insects that destroy plants, but they can also kill bees, monarch butterflies, and other pollinators that benefit plants.
The second bill, H.B. 4857, specifies that milkweed cannot be considered a noxious weed. The bill amends a law that deals with the noxious weeds that Michigan municipalities set out to control and eradicate.
Both bills were introduced in June and referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. They may be considered part of a broader movement to protect pollinators at the federal, state, local, and individual levels—including initiatives to plant milkweed and other native plants, and to avoid using pesticides that harm pollinators.
Neonicotinoid pesticides
Neonics differ from other pesticides in that their effect is systemic—meaning that all of a plant’s tissues take up the chemicals.
“The pesticide is within the plant, so if a monarch caterpillar eats milkweed that’s been treated with neonics, it’s gonna die,” Patrick Fitzgerald, senior director of community habitat at the National Wildlife Federation, told Planet Detroit.
Neonicotinoids are applied as a seed coating and sprayed on plants. These pesticides are toxic to pollinators and aquatic invertebrates and are often found in soil and water. They have also been detected in people’s urine, and some research suggests that neonics may harm children’s health. The European Union banned the outdoor use of neonicotinoids in 2018.
H.B. 4858 amends Michigan’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. It directs the Department of Natural Resources to “report to the legislature on the latest published and peer-reviewed evidence on whether the outdoor application of neonicotinoid pesticides is safe for monarch butterflies, other pollinators, beneficial insects, the environment, and public health.”
About 465 species of bees live in Michigan, including native and non-native species. Both types pollinate crops and suffer from unusually high death rates, according to Meghan Milbrath, coordinator of the Michigan Pollinator Initiative at Michigan State University.
The health of Michigan’s specialty crops – think cherries, blueberries, and apples – hinges on bees.
“Because Michigan is one of the top honey-producing states and because it has so many specialty crops,” Michigan is one of the most important states for bees in the country, Milbrath said.
Milbrath explained that most of the crop pollination is done by non-native European honeybees that beekeepers keep in hives and take around to different crops. But the problems they face, including pesticides, pathogens, parasites, and an overall loss of flowers from the landscape, also harm native bees and other pollinators, including moths and butterflies, she said. These problems also interact with each other.
Source: planetdetroit.org
Categories: Michigan, Government & Policy