skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Campaign to Save Bees Turns Corner with Retail Outlets

play audio
Play

Thursday, August 18, 2016   

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - A campaign to protect declining bee populations is making progress. A new study conducted at garden centers across the U.S. found plants containing neonicotinoid pesticides dropped by more than half in just two years.

According to Susan Kegley, the report's lead author and principal scientist with the Pesticide Research Institute, nurseries and retailers are responding to customer concerns about the use of pesticides on flowers that attract bees.

"The neonicotinoids have been shown to cause problems with immune function in bees and with reproduction,” Kegley said. "We've seen a lot of failures of honeybee queens, which are really critical to the success of the colony."

Since 2014, a coalition led by Friends of the Earth has delivered more than a million petition signatures, convincing Home Depot and Lowe's to stop using the pesticide. The Pesticide Research Institute study showed the effort has made an impact.

Ace Hardware, True Value and Walmart have yet to make similar commitments. Pesticide producers - including Bayer - believe bee losses are largely due to varroa mites.

Almost 40 percent of pollinator species, including bees and butterflies, are at risk of extinction globally, according to United Nations estimates. Kegley said bees play a vital role in the human food chain.

"It's more serious than just 'there's no more honey,’” Kegley said. "It's that our food supply - the good things, the nutritious things with the vitamins and the minerals - the colorful things in our diet are at risk here."

While the results of the report are positive, she said, more can be done to remove harmful pesticides from the supply chain. She pointed to nurseries that have found effective ways to grow plants without pesticides, including introducing other insects that prey upon the bugs that destroy crops.

"The problem of pesticides is that insects become resistant to the different pesticides, and so you keep moving on to the next pesticide,” Kegley said. "But there's no resistance to being eaten."






get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021