Vancouver Says ‘No’ to Neonic Plants in its Parks

VANCOUVER, B.C. – The park board of this city of 600,000 people in western Canada will no longer plant or purchase plants treated with a class of pesticides implicated in honeybee die-offs. The park board recently approved a motion banning "neonics," reports the Vancouver Sun. The city purchases about $175,000 worth of plants each year from third parties that may be using these pesticides.

Neonicotinoids are a class of pesticide that protects plants from damage by sap-sucking and leaf-chewing insects. Their main use is in the food system, where they are used to treat corn and soybean seed for large-scale agriculture. In the United States neonics are also widely used on turfgrass, ornamentals and urban trees.

Health Canada blamed the use of neonics for a spate of bee deaths in 2012 and in 2013. The Pest Management Regulatory Agency concluded that "current agricultural practices related to the use of neonicotinoid treated corn and soybean seed are not sustainable," the Vancouver Sun reports.

Read the article in the Vancouver Sun by clicking here.