SOURCE:
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Birds-and-Bees-create-debate-at-Capitol-16473665.php
By Michelle Del Rey - September 20, 2021
ALBANY — The birds and the bees were a hot topic of discussion at the state Capitol on Monday.
Instead of a sex-ed class, Assembly members and advocates rallied together in support of the Birds and the Bees Protection Act during a press conference and public hearing.
The bill passed the state Senate in June, but did not make it through the Assembly. Both houses are expected to vote on it next session.
The legislation includes a provision that would ban the use of certain neonicotinoid pesticides, also called “neonics,” which are known to harm migratory birds and bees.
Assemblyman Steve Englebright, a Democrat from Long Island and chair of the chamber's Environmental Conservation Committee, sponsored the bill in the Assembly. Sen. Brad Holyman, D-Manhattan, sponsored it in the Senate.
Draped in black and yellow scarves, representatives from organizations including the Bee Conservancy, Citizens Campaign for the Environment and the Natural Resources Defense Council spoke at a press conference before the committee hearing.
Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, called out the lack of rules to protect populations from neonicotinoids, despite the pesticide being chemically related to nicotine.
“We live in a society that works to keep children away from nicotine," she said. "We have all sorts of regulations in place: They can’t smoke, they can’t buy the gum with nicotine, they can’t buy the energy drinks that are loaded with nicotine. But what they can do is drink water every day.”
Dan Raichel, acting director of the NRDC’s bee-focused Pollinator Initiative, made the point that water supplies near where neonicotinoids are used can become contaminated.
Arguments favoring the legislation included combating neonicotinoids effects on human health, reducing bird mortality and preventing birth defects in whitetail deer.
Advocates cited numerous studies to back their claims, specifically one from Cornell University.
The European Union and Canada have already banned specific neonicotinoids. The New York legislation, if signed into law, would be the first of its kind in the U.S.
At the hearing, doctors from Boston College and Albany Medical Center said that pesticides are not only harmful to insects and avians, but could hurt humans, too.
Philip Landrigan, epidemiologist and professor at Boston College, alerted Assembly members of neonicotinoids' potential risk to children. He added, however, that the evidence for such claims is “not abundant.”
“Infants in the world are at risk of birth defects of the heart and the nervous system and possibly of autism-spectrum disorder,” he said.
The most common way of becoming exposed is through food ingestion, if crops are treated with neonicotinoids.
Dr. Stephen Karel De Waal Malefyt, who specializes in pediatrics medicine at Albany Med, said that in certain cases, children can be exposed during gestation.
Some of the speakers expressed opposition to the legislation, including Dr. Sean McGee, a senior exotoxiologist and risk assessor at Bayer U.S., a major producer of agricultural products including neonicotinoids.
McGee called the products "critical to our growers to combat these challenges of climate change.”