Profits Over Pollinators: The Dirty Secret of Mainstream Plant Care

At Champion Tree & Plant Health Care, we believe that caring for landscapes shouldn’t come at the cost of the environment or public health. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s happening when tree, lawn and plant health care companies use neonicotinoid pesticides—a class of chemicals so harmful that many countries have begun banning them outright.

Despite mounting scientific evidence, many companies in our region continue to use these dangerous substances. If your current service provider is using neonicotinoids, we urge you: cancel your contract. These chemicals are not just harming pests—they’re poisoning pollinators, infiltrating our water, and putting your family and pets at risk.

What Are Neonicotinoids—and Why Are They So Dangerous?

Neonicotinoids (often shortened to "neonics") are systemic insecticides. Unlike contact pesticides, they are absorbed into a plant’s entire structure—leaves, roots, flowers, nectar, and pollen. That means every bite or sip of that plant carries a dose of insecticide, even for beneficial organisms like bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and your children.

Common neonicotinoid active ingredients and their commercial brand names include:

• Imidacloprid (sold as Merit, Admire)
• Clothianidin (Arena, Belay)
• Thiamethoxam (Actara, Cruiser)
• Acetamiprid (Assail)
• Dinotefuran (Safari, Zylam)

These are not niche chemicals. They are used in countless landscape treatments, ornamental sprays, soil drenches, and even home garden products.

You might assume that if a pesticide product has a “Caution” label instead of “Warning” or “Danger,” it's relatively safe.

Unfortunately, that’s not true—especially for pollinators.

The signal word on a pesticide label refers to its acute toxicity to humans, not to wildlife. So, a product labeled “Caution” (the lowest of the EPA’s three signal words) might be far less immediately toxic to people—but it can still be deadly to bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects. These chemicals have been known to:

• Disorient bees and prevent them from returning to their hives
• Contaminate nectar and pollen for weeks after application
• Accumulate in soil and persist in treated plants long after spraying

The truth is, a “Caution” label doesn't mean safe—for pollinators, or for ecosystems.

The Pollinator Apocalypse

Do you enjoy seeing butterflies in your yard? Hearing bees hum through flowering plants? Then you should know: neonicotinoids are killing them.

A study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) demonstrated the presence of neonicotinoid insecticides in wild-caught native bees, indicating that native bees collected in agricultural landscapes are exposed to multiple pesticides, including neonicotinoids.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also taken actions to protect pollinators by implementing new labeling requirements for neonicotinoid pesticides, aiming to reduce exposure to bees.

Birds, Fish, and Pets Are Victims Too

 Neonicotinoids don’t just threaten insects—they create a ripple of destruction across the entire ecosystem.

• Birds: Even tiny doses of neonics can impair birds’ ability to migrate, forage, and survive. A 2023 study found that just one treated seed can cause dramatic weight loss and disorientation in songbirds, disrupting their migration patterns and threatening long-term survival, as reported by Audubon.

• Aquatic Life: Neonics frequently leach into waterways from treated plants, lawns, or stormwater runoff. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) highlights that these chemicals are highly toxic to aquatic insects—an essential food source for fish—and have been found in surface waters across the U.S., even at levels exceeding EPA safety thresholds.

• Pets: Even household pets aren’t safe. Neonics are used in some flea and tick treatments—introducing pesticides into your home via pet fur and bedding. Many common flea and tick treatments for pets contain neonicotinoids like imidacloprid. These substances don’t just stay on the pet—they can wash off into waterways when animals swim or bathe. As The Guardian explains, this creates an unintentional but very real source of contamination in rivers, lakes, and soil, putting wildlife at risk even from household pet care products.

A Human Health Time Bomb

Neonicotinoids were once touted as safe for people—but emerging research is painting a very different, and deeply disturbing, picture.

• Neurological Effects: Studies now link neonic exposure to serious brain development issues, including attention deficits, reduced cognitive function, and potentially even autism spectrum disorders, according to reporting by The Guardian.

• Reproductive and Hormonal Harm: The U.S. National Toxicology Program has associated neonicotinoids with hormonal disruptions and developmental damage in laboratory studies.

• Widespread Human Exposure: A 2024 biomonitoring study published in Environmental Health found that neonicotinoid residues were present in the urine of over 50% of Americans tested, including children and pregnant individuals.

• Contaminated Baby Food: Most shockingly, Friends of the Earth found that Target’s Good & Gather brand baby food contained 21 different pesticides—including multiple neonicotinoids. All samples tested were contaminated with chemicals linked to hormone disruption, neurotoxicity, and cancer, highlighting just how deeply these toxins have entered the human food system.

  

And remember: these aren’t just agricultural chemicals. They’re sprayed in suburban landscapes, schoolyards, parks, and apartment complexes—often without your knowledge.

The “Blanket Spray” Problem: Profits First, Ecology Last

One of the most dangerous—and most common—practices used by conventional landscaping companies is blanket spraying. Instead of monitoring your landscape and treating only when and where pests appear, many companies simply apply neonicotinoid pesticides across your entire property, whether it needs it or not.

Why do they do this? Because it’s cheap, fast, and profitable.

By treating every yard the same way, these companies save on labor, training, and time. They don’t have to inspect for pest activity, identify beneficial insects, or tailor treatments to each site. But this shortcut comes at a high cost—to you and the environment:

• Pollinators are exposed unnecessarily, even when there’s no pest problem.
• Soil biology is disrupted, killing off earthworms and beneficial microbes.
• Your yard becomes dependent on chemicals, creating a vicious cycle of imbalance and repeat treatments.
• You’re paying for poisons you don’t need, sprayed where they don’t belong.

At Champion Tree Care, we reject that approach. We are highly educated and trained in Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which means we:

• Monitor each site before applying anything.
• Target only the pests that are causing damage.
• Use organic, low-impact treatments approved by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI).
• Preserve pollinators, beneficial insects, and healthy soil structure.

Read more about our methods and why they work here.

Blanket spraying may boost profits for conventional companies, but it devastates ecosystems and wastes your money. You deserve better than cookie-cutter chemical care. Your landscape deserves to be treated like a living system—not a disposable lawn.

The Choice Is Yours—and It Matters

If your current landscaping company uses products like Merit, Safari or Arena, —they are putting your landscape and community at risk. You are well within your rights to demand transparency and cancel your service if they continue to use neonicotinoids.

Your yard can be lush, beautiful, and full of life—without the poisons.

Make the switch. Choose Champion Tree Health.
Contact us today to learn more or request a free landscape consultation.