Vermont Becomes Second State to Ban Bee-Killing Neonic Pesticides

After the Vermont state legislature overrode a veto from Governor Phil Scott, Vermont has now become the second state in the U.S. to ban neonicotinoids, or neonics, a type of pesticide that is particularly harmful to bees. The ban comes at the start of Pollinator Week.

The bill was vetoed by Governor Scott on May 20, 2024, but the Vermont House of Representatives and Senate voted to override the governor’s veto on June 17.

“This bill unfairly targets dairy farmers reliant on corn crops and will harm farmers without achieving its goals for pollinators,” Governor Scott said of the bill. “For these reasons I cannot sign it into law.”

Neonics are common in insecticides for agricultural and lawncare use, but they are neurotoxic. These chemicals are harmful and even deadly to bees and other pollinators. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), neonics, which were first developed in the 1990s, are now the most common insecticide class in the U.S.

A study published in 2019 found that since the rise in the use of neonics, agriculture had become 48 times more toxic to insects by 2014. The study further determined that neonics made up about 99% of total acute oral toxicity loading of insecticides in 2014.

As NRDC explained, neonics are meant for targeted pesticide use but are often used more broadly, including for corn crops. The organization reported that each conventional corn seed has enough neonics in its coating to kill around 250,000 bees, plus these chemicals can leach into soil and groundwater.

Now, Vermont is minimizing the use of neonics by requiring agronomists to provide written exemptions, or a type of prescription as described by NRDC, in order to plant crop seeds coated with neonics. The state follows New York in establishing restrictions on neonics. As reported by the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, four other states (Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii and Washington) have introduced legislation restricting neonics.

Vermont’s restrictions are similar to restrictions set in Québec, which were initially met with concerns over crop yields. However, the neonics restrictions in Canada brought the use of neonics for corn and soybean crops down to around 0.5%, leading to a decline in the amount of neonics contaminating waterways without any impact on crop yields, Times Union reported.

Following the overridden veto, the bill is slated to take effect beginning Jan. 1, 2029, VT Digger reported.