One of Washington state’s largest beekeepers says the reintroduction of a bill to ban certain pesticides to protect honeybees is an overreaction.

 

“Neonics are insecticides, and bees are insects, so sloppy or careless application kills bees. But the majority of applicators use caution and don’t cause major acute kills,” says Tim Hiatt, co-owner of Hiatt Honey Co., in Ephrata.

 

U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Jim McGovern, D-Mass., reintroduced the Saving America’s Pollinators Act in the House on Feb. 14. The bill would suspend the registration of certain neonicotinoid insecticides until the EPA conducts a full scientific review.

 

The congressmen and more than a dozen environmental and conservation groups say studies implicate the insecticides, called neonics, as contributors to declining populations of honeybees and butterflies and pose risks to birds and aquatic invertebrates.

 

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