Breaking news: A terrifying new study has found that the exact same pesticides causing the massive global bee die-off are now killing birds as well.

The global bee die-off has been happening so fast that scientists are still scrambling to detect all the impacts. And now, this new study also finds that neonic pesticides are killing warblers, swallows, starlings and thrushes nearly as fast as the bees -- at current rates, 35 percent of the bird population will disappear in just 10 years in the areas studied.

We need to get these toxic pesticides off the market before they cause a new “silent spring” -- and our efforts are gaining momentum.

In Europe, there’s a moratorium on bee and bird-killing neonics. Ontario, Canada's biggest province, is close to becoming the first major territory in North America to ban them as well.

But Bayer -- one of the biggest producers of these toxic pesticides -- has an army of lawyers suing to overturn Europe's ban, and their million-dollar lobbyists are fighting to kill Ontario’s bee protection bill. The only way we can win is if we all fight back together. Can you chip in $8 a month, so we can keep fighting until we win a ban?

Yes, I'll chip in $8 a month until we've banned the toxic pesticides causing the massive die-off of bees and birds.

No, but I can make a one-time contribution.

Giving monthly is the best way to help, because it lets us plan for the future and be ready for whatever Bayer throws at us.

You can update or cancel your donations any time.For years, beekeepers have been warning about the frightening decline in bee populations. The culprit: a class of pesticides manufactured by Bayer and others called neonicotinoids (or neonics).

Neonics aren’t supposed to harm birds in the amounts being used, but it turns out that they’re building up in the environment to levels that are poisonous for birds -- and potentially mammals as well.

That's why we’re fighting to ban neonics once and for all. With support from SumOfUs members around the world, our lawyers are helping defend Europe’s neonics ban from a Bayer lawsuit. Our activist beekeepers and campaigners have spoken out at Bayer's annual shareholder meetings to pressure the company directly, as well as some of the largest garden retailers in the world. A new report from Friends of the Earth and SumOfUs has already pushed more stores to move towards banning neonics. And if we can win in Ontario, that will be the very first neonics ban in North America.

But no one can be sure how long the bees and birds can survive the onslaught of toxic pesticides, so we have to do more while we still can. Can you chip in $8 a month to help keep up the fight to ban the toxic pesticides killing bees -- and now birds as well?

Yes, I'll chip in $8 a month until we've banned toxic neonic pesticides.

No, but I can make a one-time contribution.

Thanks for all you do,

Paul, Jon and the team at SumOfUs

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More information:

Bird decline 'smoking gun' for pesticide's effects, BBC, July 9, 2014

Neonicotinoids linked to recent fall in farmland bird numbers, Guardian, July 9, 2014