St. Paul, MN– Today marks the beginning of Pollinator Week, a worldwide event to promote and celebrate pollinator health. Representative Kelly Morrison (DFL-Deephaven), who championed the nation leading ‘Lawns to Legumes’ law encourages Minnesotans to act to help protect Minnesota’s bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other critical pollinators.
“Thousands of Minnesotans across the state have participated in the new and successful Lawns to Legumes program,” Rep. Morrison remarked. “Pollinators are vital to our food and plant production, and help sustain our ecosystems and natural resources. I encourage everyone to learn more about how they can make a difference in preserving our pollinator population at https://bluethumb.org/lawns-to-legumes/.”
Additionally, Representative Morrison is also authoring legislation to ban chlorpyrifos, a toxic chemical commonly used as an insecticide to primarily control foliage and soil-borne insect pests on a variety of food and feed crops. Chlorpyrifos has been shown to have detrimental effects on developing fetuses, infants, children, and pregnant women.
“Although the chlorpyrifos ban has not been included in the final budget this year, I will keep working to elevate this issue moving forward. There is an entire body of scientific evidence that cannot continue to be ignored; to protect public health and pollinators, we need to find safer and healthier ways to grow our food supply.”
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Representative Kelly Morrison represents House District 33B, which includes the cities of Deephaven, Shorewood, Tonka Bay, Minnetonka Beach, Mound, Chanhassen, Excelsior, Spring Park, and Greenwood. Rep. Morrison encourages her constituents to share input and ideas with her at the Capitol anytime at 651-296-4315 or at rep.kelly.morrison@house.mn.