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Today is National Honey Bee Day, but the bees are not celebrating.

It’s no secret that bees and other pollinators are facing a crisis – the ‘bee-pocalypse’ and ‘the plight of the honey bee’ headlines are hard to miss these days. This awareness is a good thing, because pollinator declines are a real problem. What is less talked about is the fact that one of the biggest threats to bees right now is pesticides coated onto seeds.  

The largest single use of neonics (a group of bee-toxic insecticides) is as pesticide seed coatings for field crops, like corn.The scale and rate at which we’re using these chemical seed coatings is unprecedented – virtually all of the corn grown in the United States comes from seeds coated with neonic chemicals, and the total acreage of corn treated with insecticides is now three times higher than it was prior to seed coatings being used. 

But bees don’t pollinate corn, so why does this matter? A huge problem with neonic seed coatings is that only a small fraction—roughly 5%--of  the neonic chemical that is coated onto the seed is actually absorbed into the plant, delivering enough of a dose to still make the plant highly toxic to bees, while leaving the remaining 95% to enter the environment through seed dust or soil contamination and water runoff. This widespread contamination makes it very easy for bees and other pollinators to continually come into contact with these toxic chemicals.

 While corn dominates the neonic seed coating market, popcorn also has a big stake in the game, as a large percentage of popcorn seeds are coated with neonics.
 
That’s why CFS launched a new campaign last year urging popcorn companies to stand up for bees and stop sourcing their popcorn from seeds that are coated in harmful neonic chemicals. Several of the leading companies saw value in the idea—within just a couple of months, two of the largest popcorn companies, Pop Weaver and Pop Secret, agreed to phase out their use of neonics as a commitment to helping conserve bees, other pollinators, and the environment.

But there is one company – the biggest in the popcorn industry – that is still refusing to stand up for bees and phase out uses of neonic seed coatings: Orville Redenbacher’s. 

Thankfully, there are plenty of healthy, bee-friendly popcorn choices to enjoy while we wait for Orville Redenbacher’s to step up and protect bees and other pollinators. You can check out some of these popcorn brands doing the right thing for bees in our popcorn guide:

Download the Guide   |   Sign the Petition

Still want to do more for bees? 

1. Visit our popcorn campaign website to learn more about the issues
2. Sign the petition urging Orville Redenbacher’s to do the right thing for bees. 
3. There are also numerous other ways to help pollinators, starting in your homes and backyards – here are a few easy options to consider.

Thanks for standing up for the bees,
The Center for Food Safety team