{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-urges-epa-to-regulate-seeds-coated-with-neonicotinoids-and-other-insecticides", "Booker Urges EPA To Regulate Seeds Coated with Neonicotinoids and Other Insecticides", "2022-08-05", "2022", "2022-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "NJ", "Cory A. Booker", "B001288", "www.booker.senate.gov", "booker", "https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate insecticide-coated seeds under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).\n\n\u201cNeonicotinoids are powerful insecticides that have been linked to pollinator declines and harm to aquatic ecosystems and water quality,\u201d wrote Sen. Booker in a letter to EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. \u201cNeonicotinoids pose an acute risk to bees and contribute to bees\u2019 high mortality rates and collapsing populations. And by poisoning aquatic insects in water bodies, neonicotinoids eliminate food sources for fish, birds, and other wildlife.\u201d\n\nOne of the leading sources of neonicotinoids in the environment are pesticide-coated seeds that shed their insecticide into the surrounding air, soil, and water. As Booker highlights, \u201cthis planting season, almost every field corn seed, about half of soybeans, and nearly all cotton seeds planted will be coated with neonicotinoids. This means that at least 150 million acres of cropland in the United States will be planted with neonicotinoid insecticides.\u201d\n\nDespite the widespread use of neonicotinoid coated seeds, the benefits to farmers are minimal. For example, \u201cNeonicotinoid seed treatments offer soybean plants a maximum of three weeks of protection and do not protect against major pests that arise later in the bloom stages of the soybean\u2026.Additionally neonicotinoids can have a counter-productive effect by killing beneficial insects that prey on agricultural pests and overuse can lead to the rise of insecticide-resistant pests.\u201d\n\nThe EPA currently has no regulations regarding the disposal of unused pesticide-treated seeds. \u201cThe lack of oversight by EPA on disposal of these toxic seeds has led to an ongoing environmental and public health disaster in Mead, Nebraska,\u201d continues Booker.\n\nGiven the detrimental impact of neonicotinoid-coated seeds on the environment and their limited benefit, Booker ends by urging the \u201cEPA to end the massive overuse and abuse of neonicotinoid coated seeds in the United States\u201d and urges the EPA to grant a petition that would ensure pesticide-coated seeds are regulated like other insecticides.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T02:59:24Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-urges-epa-to-regulate-seeds-coated-with-neonicotinoids-and-other-insecticides"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7190780490636826, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}