{"id":15010,"date":"2013-11-24T21:16:51","date_gmt":"2013-11-24T21:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/2013\/11\/24\/bees-get-their-day-in-oregon\/"},"modified":"2013-11-24T21:16:51","modified_gmt":"2013-11-24T21:16:51","slug":"bees-get-their-day-in-oregon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/bees-get-their-day-in-oregon\/","title":{"rendered":"Bees get their day in Oregon"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Oregon Legislative hearing on Bee Health and Pesticide Use<\/a> on November 21 was an important milestone. Lawmakers heard from a number of panelists that pesticides are harming bees.<\/p> The day started with Beyond Toxics delivering nearly 12,000 signatures to Katy Coba, the Director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture<\/a> (ODA) calling for a ban on a class of pesticides labeled neonicotinoids. These pesticides are very toxic to bees and are one of the factors in colony collapse disorder. Beyond Toxics also hosted the Beauty of the Bee Photography Exhibit<\/a> in the main Galleria, as well as offering tasty treats from crops pollinated by bees (pumpkin pie, figs, apples, and more) to legislators.<\/p> At 2:00 pm people packed the hearing room for the Bee Health and Pesticide Use<\/em> public hearing in the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. The highpoints I took away from the hearing give me hope that Oregon will soon take meaningful action to protect bees and other pollinators from the threat of extinction by pesticide poisoning:<\/p>