Restaurant owners and chefs call for pollinator protection

Dear Administrator McCarthy,

Millions of bees are dying off across the nation, with alarming consequences for our environment and

our food supply. In the past year, more than two out of five bee colonies in the U.S. were lost. Scientists

point to several causes of these die-offs, including increased exposure to a class of bee killing

insecticides known as neonicotinoids.

Bees pollinate 1 out of every 3 bites of the food that we eat. As people in the food industry — chefs,

restaurant owners, and cooking schools, we are particularly concerned about the impact that this could

have on our restaurants and the food services that we provide in addition to our concern for the

environment.

We are well aware that big agrichemical companies like Bayer, Syngenta, and Dow Chemical are fighting

to prevent bans on the use of neonics. And that some have asked the EPA for permission to use even

larger quantities of these pesticides — as much as 400 times more than currently permitted. Approving

this request or allowing any additional types or uses of neonics will only exacerbate the current

problem. We simply cannot afford to lose anymore bee colonies or the dozens of foods that they

pollinate.

That’s why we, the undersigned chefs, restaurant owners, food businesses and cooking schools urge you

to act quickly to reject the pesticide industry’s requests to use more neonics and to instead put in place

an immediate moratorium on any new uses neonicotinoid pesticides while developing a plan to phase

out all uses of these bee-killing chemicals.

Sincerely,