Pesticide Reform: Safe Pesticide Alternatives
Restricting pesticide use and finding safe pesticide alternatives that protect human and pollinator health.
Imagine a honey bee with a learning disorder. How will they find the nectar source or their way back to the hive? In their short lives, honey bees perform several different tasks in the hive. Hormones are responsible for the shifts in their growth and learning. We now know that some pesticides and fungicides block hormone synthesis in honey bees.
Non Toxic Oregon
Beyond Toxics is Oregon’s lead environmental justice organization, working to keep our public lands beautiful and safe for people and pollinators.
Beyond Toxics is currently leading a state-wide movement to protect human and environmental health. Their goal is to transition beyond harmful synthetic pesticides by working with impacted communities to win local and statewide policy advocacy campaigns.
They offer training to municipal planners on safe pesticide alternatives to use in parks, sports fields, school grounds, and roadsides. And they initiate and participate in rulemaking by the Oregon Department of Agriculture to develop more stringent restrictions for highly hazardous, persistent, and volatile pesticides proven to cause health problems, air pollution and water contamination.
In December 2020, after three years of advocacy work with Beyond Toxics’ lead, the Oregon Department of Agriculture adopted a new set of laws to restrict the use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, which is dangerous to humans and bees. In 2019 Beyond Toxics advocated for a bill that would restrict neonicotinoid use and get it off retail shelves. That bill was shelved by the legislature as a compromise to move forward with the chlorpyrifos campaign.
Beyond Toxic is leading the conversation in transitioning from harmful and dangerous pesticides to safe pesticide alternatives. To learn more about additional ways to protect the honey bee population and make a change, browse our website for more information.
