Bees are dying off in developed Western countries, putting 90 percent of U.S. crops in peril. Multiple scientific studies now blame one group of agricultural toxins—neonicotinoid pesticides—as a major contributor to their rapid demise, and bee populations have recovered in the four European countries that have banned these products. But Bayer still sells this deadly poison here, even though the Environmental Protection Agency has recognized, in a leaked document, that Bayer’s “highly toxic” product is a “major risk concern to non-target insects [honey bees].”

In 2009, Italy’s new, neonicotinoid-free corn sowing resulted in no cases of widespread bee mortality in apiaries around the crops, a first since 1999. Italy, France, Slovenia and Germany, where Bayer’s main manufacturing plant is located, have all banned neonicotinoids with good results.

It’s up to U.S. citizens to convince the government not to heed the powerful chemical lobby, but to defend the bees and the country’s food supply by calling for a national ban now.

Build a buzz today. Sign the emergency petition at Secure.Avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees_usa/?vl.