This is a TV news story about how Manitoba’s Wilderness Committee is launching a campaign against a class of pesticides they say are killing bees.

 

"The fact that these pesticides are having such an effect on bees is really troubling," said Eric Reder, the Manitoba campaign director with the Wilderness Committee.

 

They’re called neonicotinoids, or neonics for short, and the environmentalist group says they’ve been linked to recent mass die-offs of the pollinators.

 

The committee is launching a campaign asking governments to legislate against their use.

 

Right now, neonics are widely used to treat seeds, plants and soils and many gardeners who don’t want to use these pesticides, are unknowingly buying plants with the chemical and planting them in their backyards.

 

"So, that soil is going to remain in your garden and neonicotinoids will be in your yard affecting bees on your property," said Reder.