Connecticut Audubon strongly supports new bills in Hartford that will protect birds by limiting insecticides and rodenticides
Spring songbirds like this Rose-breasted Grosbeak rely on thousands of insects to raise their families. Neonics threaten their breeding success. Photo courtesy of Michael Audette.
February 13, 2025 — Two bills introduced in Hartford this month would lead to significant reductions in dangerous insecticides and rodent poisons in the state, protecting birds and other wildlife.
Both have the strong support of the Connecticut Audubon Society.
One bill would restrict the use of neonicotinoid insecticides on lawns, golf courses and farms. The other would reduce the use of a dangerous form of rodent poison that has been killing hawks and other birds of prey in the state.
The Connecticut General Assembly’s Environment Committee will hold public hearings on both bills starting at noon on Wednesday, February 19, in Hartford.
The insecticide bill is HB 6916, An Act Concerning the Use of Neonicotinoids. It is the culmination of several years of advocacy on behalf of Connecticut Audubon and its members, and by Connecticut Pesticide Reform, a statewide group of advocates that encompasses more than four dozen organizations and individuals. Connecticut Audubon is part of its leadership group.
Enactment of a strong neonics law was the key recommendation of Connecticut Audubon’s 2024 State of the Birds report, titled “The Next Conservation Frontier: Protecting Birds from Insecticides.” Insecticides such as neonics are one of the important causes of the 30 percent bird population decline in America since 1970.
The new bill would limit the use of neonics on golf courses, turf grass, lawns, playing fields, outdoor ornamental plants, and state or municipal properties starting in 2028. In 2029, the use of neonic-coated seeds would be restricted on corn, wheat, and soybean crops.
The proposal allows for exemptions for emergencies.
The bill is similar to laws passed in recent years by New York and Vermont.
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Neonics are a high harm, low benefit chemical. As the Connecticut State of the Birds report explained, neonics “are spread on lawns and fairways to kill insects. Used as a coating on seeds, neonics keep crops like corn pest-free. Or so say the sales pitches from the agri-chemical giants. What they don’t say is that neonics are 7,000 times more toxic than DDT.”
Neonics can kill birds directly, and they also decimate the insects that birds rely on for food, including caterpillars. To cite just one example of the harm neonics can cause to common Connecticut birds, it’s estimated that one pair of chickadees raising babies in spring needs 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars.
Neonics also kill bees of all kinds — including bumble bees, squash bees, and mason bees — as well as monarch butterflies, swallowtail butterflies, and hummingbird moths, and beetles and lightning bugs.
House Bill 6915, An Act Concerning the Use of Second Generation Anti Coagulant Rodenticides, would restrict the use of a relatively new form of poison that kills rodents slowly. This often means that before they die, the rodents find their way outdoors, where they are vulnerable to being eaten by hawks or owls.
The birds of prey then eat the poison with the rodent.
Both bills would add important protections to the state’s wildlife.
