White House Orders Agencies to Develop National Strategy on Pollinator Health
June 23, 2014
Editor’s Note: See EPA’s announcement, EPA is Advancing Pollinator Science and Sharing Useful Information with Growers and Beekeepers
From: Bloomberg/BNA Chemical Regulation Reporter ®
The White House has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency, the Agriculture Department and other federal agencies to establish a national strategy on pollinator health.
President Barack Obama, in a memorandum issued June 20, ordered establishment of the Pollinator Health Task Force to develop the federal government’s strategy on understanding, preventing and recovering from pollinator population declines, foster public-private partnerships on pollinator health and educate the public on pollinator issues. The task force, which will consist of officials from at least 16 federal agencies, will be co-chaired by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The memo cites “severe” pollinator population declines, including the ongoing loss of commercial honey bee colonies, and declines in the number of migrating monarch butterflies.
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