Pingree Praises White House Policy on Pollinators

Press Release

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree praised a White House strategy to protect pollinators like bees and monarch butterflies, and restore seven million acres of habitat for these important species.

"The decline of these species is a serious problem and is a threat to the health of our country's agricultural system," Pingree said. "Bees and monarchs add $15 billion in value every year to the crops they help pollinate, and if these species disappear there are a lot of farms that could disappear with them."

The plan announced by the Obama Administration today sets a goal of dramatically reducing honey bee die-offs from the current 40% a year to 15% and increasing the population of migrating monarch butterflies from the current 33 million to 220 million by 2020. In 1994, an estimated 1 billion butterflies migrated to a mountain forest in Mexico.

"One missing link in this strategy is the effect of pesticides and herbicides on pollinators," Pingree said. "Increasingly, pesticides are being linked to death of honey bees and the wide-spread use of Roundup on GMO crops has wiped out milkweed and monarch butterflies are disappearing as a result."

Pingree has been a vocal critic of the use of genetically modified crops that are designed to resist herbicides like glyphosate (the main ingredient in Roundup).

Source