Tell Home Depot and Lowe's: Stop selling bee-killing pesticides.
As a beekeeper, I know the important role bees play in pollinating much of the food we all consume and enjoy. Keeping bees in an urban area, I and fellow beekeepers have experienced dramatic bee die-offs in the past two years.
These deaths are increasingly being linked to a class of neurotoxic pesticides called neonicotinoids. At the same time we have seen a large increase in the sales of neonicotinoids to home gardeners by stores like Home Depot and Lowe's -- which have thousands of locations across the country.
That's why I started my own campaign on CREDOMobilize.com, which allows activists to start their own petitions. My petition, which is to Home Depot and Lowe's, says the following:
Immediately remove neonicotinoid pesticides from your shelves and stop selling them at all of your stores. I also urgently request that you cease purchasing plants from nurseries that use neonicotinoid pesticides in the potting soil.
Sign the petition: Tell Home Depot and Lowe's to stop selling bee-killing pesticides.
Bees are essential to our food system and they've been dying off recently at alarming rates. Last winter, over a third of all honey bee colonies in the United States died, and domestic honey production for 2013 is projected to be the lowest ever recorded.
With the widespread and growing use of neonicotinoids in agriculture for commercial purposes and in home gardens, bees are exposed to residues on plants or in nectar and pollen. A growing body of research shows that there are devastating consequences for bees from the use of these pesticides, the most dangerous of which is an increased susceptibility to deadly parasites and viruses.
The sad fact is that I cannot sustain my beekeeping business at the current loss rate. Many beekeeping businesses have collapsed across the nation, with many more on the verge.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency is taking its time in dealing with the issue, but with bee die-offs increasing, we can't afford to wait. That's why I'm calling on Home Depot and Lowe's -- two of the largest retailers of neonicotinoid pesticides nationwide -- to take responsibility for the harm caused by the products they market to customers and immediately stop selling neonicotinoid pesticides.
With strong grassroots pressure we can put a spotlight on these companies' role in killing bees and persuade them to take neonicotinoid pesticides off the shelves of their stores nationwide.
Will you join me and add your name to my petition to Home Depot and Lowe's demanding that they stop selling bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides?
Thank you for your support.
Philip Smith
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