ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN
We must act now, before it's too late.
The monarch butterfly is on the brink of extinction. There's ample science—including a new study by the Center for Food Safety—that links the devastation of the monarch population to Monsanto's Roundup.
Why? Roundup kills the milkweed plant, which is essential to the monarch's survival.
Milkweed is the only plant that monarch butterflies can lay their eggs on, and it’s the only plant the monarch caterpillar will eat. Milkweed used to thrive in the conventionally grown corn and soy fields of the Midwest. But since the introduction of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready crops, genetically engineered to allow farmers to spray hundreds of millions of pounds of Roundup every year, milkweed has been largely eradicated. As a consequence, the monarch butterfly population has been decimated, shrinking from about one billion in 1996-1997 to fewer than 35 million in 2014—a 97-percent loss.
What can you do to help save the monarch?
-Ask the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to place the Monarch on the Endangered Species List
-Plant Native Milkweed in your yard and neighborhood. (Find local native plants here)
-Write your representatives and ask them to ban the use of glyphosate, the key active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup.
-Teach your family, friends and neighbors about this issue, and ask them to help save the butterflies!
Take Action!
The pesticide industry has weakened and delayed pesticide reforms and is shaping new state pollinator “protection” plans nationwide that do little to protect bees, according to a new Friends of the Earth report. The report is being released in advance of Pollinator Week (June 20-26, 2016), as people assemble to ask for improved protection for pollinators.
The investigation, Buzz Kill: How the Pesticide Industry is Clipping the Wings of Bee Protection Efforts Across the U.S., reveals an array of pesticide industry tactics to slow urgently needed pollinator protection measures at federal and state levels. The report details how new state pollinator protection plans, many still unfinished, have been heavily influenced by pesticide industry interests.
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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a preliminary pollinator risk assessment for the neonicotinoid insecticide, imidacloprid, which shows a threat to some pollinators. The EPA’s assessment indicates that the highly toxic, long-lived neonicotinoid imidacloprid “potentially poses risk to hives when the pesticide comes in contact with certain crops that attract pollinators…”
While we are pleased that the EPA released this initial assessment, our review of the documents shows severe shortfalls in the methods and omissions in the evaluation which will allow continued risk to both native pollinators and to honey bees.
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USDA researchers have identified the neonicotinoid insecticide clothianidin as a likely contributor to monarch butterfly declines in North America. Monarch butterfly populations (Danaus Plexippus) have declined precipitously in North America in the last twenty years. This decline has commonly been linked to loss of milkweeds (Asclepias species) from farmer’s fields. Monarch caterpillars are dependent on milkweeds. The ability of farmers to kill them with the Monsanto herbicide Roundup (glyphosate) has therefore led to this herbicide being considered as a major contributor to the decline of the monarch butterfly.
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