Date: 2/16/25 11:06 am From: SARAH FAULKNER via CTBirds <ctbirds...> Subject: [CT Birds] Call to Action: Neonics and Rodenticide Bills
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Dear Fellow Birders,
I am sending this alert knowing you may have already received others - please delete if this is not needed.
I writing to ask you to support two bills that will go to public hearing before the CT Legislature’s Environment Committee this coming Wednesday, Feb. 19: one to restrict the use of neonicotinoids (insecticides), often called "neonics", and one to restrict the use of anticoagulant rodenticides. You can:
* Submit written testimony directly to the Environment Committee (must be received by 3:00 pm Tuesday, Feb 18)
* Write or call your state representative and state senator directly
* Testify yourself in person (deadline to sign up to testify is 3:00 pm Tuesday, Feb 18).
Please ask both your elected reps to support and co-sponsor both these bills. The use of both neonics and rodenticides are having devastating impacts on our pollinators, birds, animals, ecology, and human health.
Neonics: Raised bill 6916. Neonics are toxic to birds, even in very small quantities -- one treated seed is enough to kill a songbird. 90% of our birds rely on insects to survive, so neonics are horrendous for birds. Neonics are also highly toxic to bees and other insects, and are responsible for the dramatic decline in pollinators and monarch butterflies. The food chain impacts on aquatic and other species are huge, and there is evidence that their presence in our food chains are impacting human neurological systems particularly in young children. Further, recent studies indicate that they do not improve seed germination or growth - so they do little but kill species. Neonics should be heavily restricted – if not outright banned – immediately.
Rodenticides: Raised bill 6915. Rodenticides using 2nd generation anticoagulants are widely used by both professionals and individuals. They are the common “rat and mouse poisons” that you can purchase at the grocery store. They cause internal bleeding in rodents, and, when eaten by something else – a bird of prey, your cat or dog, a coyote, fox, raccoon, or anything else – it causes the same internal bleeding and eventual painful death in that animal. They also bioaccumulate, so a predator collects the poison in their system for each poisoned prey they consume. Countless raptors, including bald eagles and owls, have died in Connecticut in just the past two years from these poisons. Many household pets, too, have been poisoned. There are other ways to rid homes and structures of mice and rats besides this cruel and dangerous set of poisons. Please support this bill to limit their use, and even ban them.
Sample email to use either for individual emails to your State Representative and State Senator, and/or directly to the Environment Committee (please modify it for your own words):
I am writing to urge your support of Raised Bill 6916 restricting use of neonicotinoid pesticides, as well as Raised Bill 6915 restricting anticoagulant rodenticides. Both the neonics and rodenticides are doing shocking, horrific damage to our natural environment and threatening human life. There are other methods to control pests than these broad-spectrum killers. Please support both of these bills, and please consider co-sponsoring them. We and our children deserve a healthy natural environment.
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