An overview of agricultural neonicotinoid regulation in the EU, Canada, and the United States.

Neonicotinoids are a widely used class of insecticides partly due to their low acute risk to non-target organisms. However, increasing concerns over their long-term chronic effects on pollinators and other species of concern have led to increased governmental regulations since the mid-2010s, particularly in agricultural settings. These regulations have varied in terms of approach, geography, and timeline, starting with a ban implemented by the European Union (EU) and evolving into exemption-based regulations across two Canadian provinces and five US states as of this writing. While the landscape of neonicotinoid regulation in agriculture is rapidly evolving, it is pertinent to review what contexts led to different regulatory approaches in each of these cases, what templates for regulation exist, and what the consequences of such approaches have been up to this point. This review aims to enhance understanding of the potential future of agricultural neonicotinoid regulation across time and space. © 2025 The Author(s). Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.