Please take action TODAY by calling your legislators and asking them to support legislation to PROTECT PEOPLE, PETS and POLLINATORS from toxic pesticides.
Neonicotinoids linked to declines in bee populations, also impact 80% of all threatened and endangered species including nearly 70 mammal species, 77 bird species and scores of others, NRDC.
Chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate, has devastating impacts on our health & children’s developing brains.
Monarch butterfly populations are down 90% in the last 20 years, National Wildlife Federation
Freshwater ecosystems show an 83% decline in vertebrate populations since 1970, UN Center for Biodiversity.
North American bumble bees are in decline up to 96%, University of Illinois.
It’s time for CT to join NY, NJ and other neighboring states in calling for more comprehensive protections from harmful pesticides used for purely cosmetic purposes. The continued use of dangerous pesticides is responsible for unacceptable risk to our children, alarming impacts on bee populations, and risks to other life-sustaining species. Please call your state representatives and ask them to urge members of the Environment Committee to raise bills during the upcoming legislative session that would take the following action:
(1) Update Connecticut’s 2016 Pollinator Protection Law to keep neonicotinoids off CT lawns. Current law bars these pesticides from retail sale but allows their use on residential properties by certified pesticide applicators, including most lawn-care professionals. Neonicotinoids are known to be one of the major factors in the death of pollinators as well as other wildlife including many endangered species. Lawns are the largest known source of neonic pollution in urban/suburban areas. In NJ, which unlike CT tracks digitally where pesticides are used, lawn care use by certified applicators was the single largest tracked use in the state by a considerable margin.
(2) Ban Chlorpyrifos on Golf Courses. Dow’s nerve gas pesticide chlorpyrifos has devastating impacts on our health, children’s developing brains, and our environment. The federal government has banned chlorpyrifos on food crops, but 90% of chlorpyrifos usage in CT is on golf courses for cosmetic purposes.
(3) Require DEEP to develop an electronic filing system for certified pesticide applicators which would modernize the collection of this critical data. Currently, pesticide applicators file paper forms which are filed in boxes in Hartford making it very difficult for anyone (policy makers or the public) to have a clear picture of which pesticides are being used, in what quantities, where, and for what intended purposes.
We are up against the powerful chemical industry that has tremendous influence in Hartford. The only way our legislators will take action to PROTECT PEOPLE, PETS AND POLLINATORS IS IF THEY HEAR FROM US!
Please call or e-mail your State Representative and State Senator TODAY! Below are their phone numbers, a link to find out who your elected officials are and a sample script. Please share far and wide!
House Democrats – 860-240-8500
House Republicans – 860-240-8700
Senate Democrats – 860-240-8600
Senate Republicans – 860-240-8800
Not sure who your elected officials are, CLICK HERE https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/cgafindleg.asp
Sample Script to Legislator:
I’m calling today to ask you to support legislation that will protect people, pets and pollinators by restricting purely cosmetic uses of harmful pesticides. Connecticut has not taken action on pesticides since 2016. Now is the time to take the following action: (1) Update Connecticut’s 2016 Pollinator Protection Law by expanding the neonicotinoid ban on bee-killing neonicotinoids to include use on residential properties by certified pesticide applicators. (2) Ban Chlorpyrifos on Golf Courses. Dow’s nerve gas pesticide chlorpyrifos has devastating impacts on our health, children’s developing brains, and our environment. The federal government has banned chlorpyrifos on food, but 90% of chlorpyrifos usage in CT is on golf courses. (3) Require DEEP to develop an electronic filing system for certified pesticide applicators which would modernize the collection of critical data. Currently, pesticide applicators are required to file paper forms which are then filed in boxes not easily accessible to policymakers or the public. It is time for these filings to become electronic to ensure transparency about which pesticides are being used, where, and how much in CT.
As your constituent, I urge you to support bills on these topics during the upcoming legislative session and please speak to the members of the Environment Committee and ask them to raise these bills. Thank you.