Senators push EPA to protect honeybees

Members of the Senate are urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to save the honeybees.

A letter, signed by Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and nine other senators, sent to the EPA on Friday asked the agency to detail how it plans to protect pollinators from pesticides.

The Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and an executive order issued by President Obama in June are measures already in place to revive the honeybee population that’s been rapidly declining since 2006.

“Recent scientific developments highlight the threat that these pesticides pose to honey bees and other pollinators and our food production and economy, as well as the potential for effects on humans and the environment,” said Markey, who’s a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

“I wrote EPA in 2012 asking them to consider the effects of these pesticides on pollinators and I continue to urge them to act quickly to address these concerns.” 

The nine other senators who signed the letter were Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D. R.I.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii).

“It is well established that bees and other pollinators fulfill an essential role in American food production and the economy,” the letter said. “Approximately one in three bites of food benefits from honey be pollination.”