The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released its final biological evaluations and confirms that three commonly used neonicotinoid insecticides cause harm to the majority of endangered plants and animals.

According to a press release by The Center for Biological Diversity, the harmful effects on species include all 39 amphibian species protected under the Endangered Species Act.

“These deeply troubling findings leave no doubt that these dangerous pesticides are silencing the songs of frogs, the flutter of butterfly wings and the buzz of bees," the center's environmental health director, Lori Ann Burd, said in the release. "Many of the species harmed by neonicotinoids are experiencing precipitous declines, and this EPA’s choices may well determine whether or not they go extinct."

The three insecticides assessed by EPA are clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, according to the release. The evaluation is the first time the agency has examined the neonicotinoid's harmful effects to imperiled plants and animals in the United States. Rusty patched bumblebees, whooping cranes, chinook salmon, northern long-eared bats and orcas were the species concluded to be harmed by all three.

“We’re in the midst of a heartbreaking extinction crisis, and neonicotinoids are playing an outsized role in driving it,” Burd said in the release. “Now that the EPA has completed its analysis, the only question is whether it will muster the courage to stand up to Big Ag and ban these chemicals or will choose to facilitate extinction.”

The release states that 67% of all endangered species will likely be affected by clothianidin, 79% by imidacloprid and 77% by thiamethoxam.

According to the release, insecticides are absorbed by plants, and this makes the plant toxic in its entirety, "including its nectar, pollen and fruit." Corn and soy seeds are commonly affected by neonicotinoids.

Even family pets have succumbed to these chemicals, according to the release, which cites imidacloprid as one of two Seresto flea collar ingredients linked to over 2,500 pet deaths.