Events
Protect Our Pollinators Presents: Neonics High Harm and Low Benefit
Sunday, February 23, 2025
2:00pm-4:00pm
C.H. Booth Library (Newton, CT)
With presentations by The Connecticut Audubon Society, Pollinator Pathway, and Protect Our Pollinators
Join us for a must-see program featuring experts who will share shocking information about neonics, a powerful, widely used class of pesticides–and their effects on insects, birds, aquatic wildlife, soil, and humans. Learn about ways to protect your family and wildlife, and about proposed legislation focusing on non-beneficial uses of neonics in Connecticut.
Free Admission...Refreshments...For more information, call 203-917-0335
CT NOFA Winter Conference 2025
Neonicotinoids: What You Need to Know About this Insecticide’s Harm to Connecticut’s Wildlife, Rivers, and People
Saturday, March 1, 2025
Session 3, 4:15pm - 5:15pm
In-Person at Eastern Connecticut State University
Speakers: Louise Washer, Mia Park and Joyce Leiz
Neonicotinoids, the most widely used insecticides in the world, are devastating bird, bee, and other insect populations and, as a result, hollowing out whole ecosystems. Studies show they jeopardize monarch butterflies and over 200 listed and endangered species. Connecticut beekeepers are affected by these pesticides. “Neonics” were the most common pesticides found in honey bee-collected pollen in Connecticut in a 2017 CT Agricultural Experiment Station study.
Connecticut beekeepers have routinely lost about half their colonies over the winter and up to 70% throughout the year. A new report from UConn shows neonics are present in more than half of Connecticut rivers at levels shown to be damaging to river insects, the base of the aquatic food chain. US Geological Survey testing also detects neonics in Connecticut ground water, which poses a potential threat to human health. Neighboring states have joined Europe and parts of Canada in passing legislation to restrict or ban certain uses of neonics. Join us to learn more about these pesticides, alternatives to their use, and legislation proposed in Connecticut that would limit uses shown to yield little to no economic benefit to farmers and landscapers but that contribute significantly to environmental harms.
For more information click here.