(Beyond Pesticides, August 25, 2025) What the Republican-led Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in the U.S. House of Representatives calls legislation to “Cut Red Tape and Increase Clean Water Act Permitting Efficiency” is being roundly criticized by environmental groups as an attack on the safety of the nation’s waterways. On June 25, the Committee passed the Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today (PERMIT) Act, H.R. 3898, sponsored by Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), which makes sweeping changes to the Clean Water Act (CWA) with serious consequences that will undermine water quality, pesticide oversight, and community right-to-know, according to environmental advocates. The PERMIT Act, now moving through Congress, is a package of over 15 anti-clean water bills and poses an extreme threat to clean water protections, thwarting to the goals of CWA.   Beyond Pesticides is calling on the public to Tell your U.S. Representative and Senators to oppose H.R. 3898, the “PERMIT Act.” Ever since CWA became law in 1972 to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters,” the definition of the “Nation’s waters,” aka “waters of the U.S.” or “WOTUS,” has been cloaked in controversy. This controversy is coming to a head again as the Trump administration revises regulations in […]

(Beyond Pesticides, August 22, 2025) Legislative language moving through Congress—intended to prevent farmers, consumers, and workers from holding pesticide manufacturers accountable for the harm caused by their toxic products—is being opposed by a broad coalition of farmers, beekeepers, consumers, environmentalists, and workers with the release today of a joint statement opposing a dramatic change in a fundamental legal right. The document, Protect the Right of Farmers, Consumers, and Workers to Hold Pesticide Companies Accountable for Their Harmful Products, is joined by 51 organizations, coalitions, businesses, and leaders representing tens of thousands of members and communities. The legislation at issue is hidden in a provision of the Appropriations bill (Section 453) that has passed through the Appropriations Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and is headed for a vote of the full House in the next couple of weeks, followed by the U.S. Senate. The Appropriations provision is being pushed by chemical companies in the wake of extraordinary jury verdicts against Bayer/Monsanto, amounting to billions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages, for “failure-to-warn” liability claims involving glyphosate (Roundupᵀᴹ) weed killer products. The pesticide has been classified as cancer-causing by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (a part of […]

(Beyond Pesticides, August 18, 2025)  With pesticide manufacturers pushing to stop cancer victims (and others suffering adverse effects) from suing them under longstanding ”failure to warn law,“ U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) is proposing to uphold this unequivocal right to protection. Senator Booker has introduced the Pesticide Injury Accountability Act (S. 2324) to protect the rights of farmers and consumers to hold pesticide manufacturers responsible for the harm caused by their toxic products. This effort comes in the wake of congressional and state legislative attacks on “failure-to-warn” liability claims that are taking place in response to extraordinary jury verdicts against Bayer/Monsanto for harm caused by glyphosate weed killer products like Roundup.ᵀᴹ 📣 Beyond Pesticides, with allied organizations across the U.S., is asking the public to “Tell your U.S. Senator to co-sponsor S. 2324, the Pesticide Injury Accountability Act.” This bill will amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act of 1972 (FIFRA) to create a federal right of action for anyone who is harmed by a toxic pesticide.  Despite growing peer-reviewed scientific evidence linking widely used pesticides to a host of health harms, including cancers, birth defects, endocrine disruption, Parkinson’s disease, and infertility, the chemical industry and its allies in elective office are pushing to deny victims access to […]

(Beyond Pesticides, August 11, 2025) With the reintroduction of legislation in July to support organic dairy production, Beyond Pesticides is calling on the public to support small organic farms that are hurting because of feed shortages, increased costs, and low premium to farmers, despite higher prices at the grocery store. Beyond Pesticides has called for an investment in organic as a long-term investment in the public good, given the value that organic brings as a solution to the health, biodiversity, and climate crises. (See previous Daily News, here and here.) Legislation, the Organic Dairy Assistance, Investment, and Reporting Yields Act (O DAIRY Act), S. 2442, introduced by U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Credit, along with Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) will expand federal support for organic dairy farmers by extending emergency assistance to farmers facing losses due to factors like feed shortages and increased costs. The Senators’ legislation also increases investments in the organic dairy industry to ensure resiliency and longevity and works to improve data collection for organic milk production to enhance price accuracy and transparency. Beyond Pesticides is suggesting that the public Tell U.S. […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 7, 2025) At the end of the Independence Day weekend and after the Congressional passage of reconciliation bill (H.R. 1) on July 3, ongoing legislative proposals challenge the underlying principles of the  Declaration of Independence—raising serious environmental and public health concerns and issues of democratic governance by local and state governments to ensure protections. A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll finds that three-quarters of Americans say democracy is under serious threat. The Declaration not only presented the case of the colonists for independence from Britain, it also created a framework for defining democracy, beginning with the statement, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and it continues “necessary for the public good.” Above all, the Declaration’s statement of the equal rights of all citizens supports the need for environmental justice.  Among the grievances listed are the King’s restriction of the power of local (colonial) authorities to pass laws, “the most wholesome and necessary for the […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 3-4, 2025) On this Independence Day, Beyond Pesticides calls for holistic solutions that, as articulated in the Declaration of Independence, move the nation to ensure “certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The founders of the United States were aware of the existential threat of corruption to democratic institutions. Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, warned in Federalist No. 68 of The Federalist Papers that the presidency could be overtaken by a despotic figure without adequate safeguards. James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, in Federalist No. 10 speaks to the danger that factions—defined as a group of people or entities “… who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community”—impose on the general public, if not checked by safeguards in the country’s political system. The foundational principles in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution have been challenged under the current administration and in the U.S. Congress. Communities are facing a fourfold attack on these principles and the centuries-old promise of the nation: […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 30, 2025) Temperatures are hot—and getting hotter. Climate change is one of multiple crises that are compounding one another. Environmental disasters, including fires, floods, and severe weather events, are brought on or exacerbated by widespread reliance on disruptive chemicals, which played a role in a delayed start to the southern California rainy season, hurricane-force winds, and low humidity levels—all elevated by climate change. While climate change may be most apparent—record heat in much of the U.S. this month, 128°F in Death Valley last year, and extreme heat globally, last year’s earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, another volatile wildfire season, etc.—as crises are escalating in human disease and biodiversity collapse.  Extreme heat is the deadliest weather disaster—killing hundreds of thousands of people every year. Heat makes the health effects of pesticides and other pollutants more serious. Climate change is intensifying the impacts of habitat destruction and toxic chemicals on biodiversity. As the problems grow,  false claims of climate change mitigation require scrutiny. In this context, as an example, regenerative agriculture fails to require the elimination of petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers—major contributors to the climate crisis—while certified organic agriculture does. As organic is increasingly understood to be a climate solution, OrganicClimateNet last year launched an aggressive effort to build the base of organic farmers in the European Union (EU). As the […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 17, 2025) Funding cuts in the current budget bill include drastic cuts in research essential to protect farmers, farmworkers, and their families. There are many federal agencies funding research, but among the most important of those funding research affecting farmers, farmworkers, and their families are the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).   >> Tell Congress to restore funding that protects the health of farmers, farmworkers, and their families. EPA funding for the Bioecological Center for Research on Children’s Health (BeRCH) project was cut after almost two years. This project had the potential to address farmworker children’s health. Farmworker children can face many challenges–including poverty, language barriers, inadequate housing, discrimination, fear of family separation, exposure to agricultural chemicals, food insecurity, and migration. BeRCH was designed to identify, understand, and address the cumulative impacts on the health, development, and growth of farmworker children. The project goals were to examine farmworker children’s exposures to environmental toxins (pesticides, heavy metals, particulate matter) and non-chemical psychosocial stressors (poverty, food insecurity, trauma, discrimination, etc). Working in collaboration with the Florida State University (FSU) health clinic in Immokalee, the project would have examined threats, implemented strategies to improve health outcomes for farmworker children, and collaboratively established […]

***Featured Art Page submissions for National Pollinator Week, highlighted with the gratitude of Beyond Pesticides: Jesse from Livermore, CA: “Honeybee Pollinating Citrus Blossom”; Yumi from New York, NY: “Birds and the Bees”; Gretchen from Helena, MT: “Butterflies”; Janet from Concord, MA: “Beneath the Big Dipper”; and Trix from Petersburg, NY: “Downy Woodpecker.” (Beyond Pesticides, June 16, 2025) Every year, Beyond Pesticides announces National Pollinator Week to remind eaters of food, gardeners, farmers, communities (including park districts to school districts), civic organizations, responsible corporations, policy makers, and legislators that there are actions that can be taken that are transformative. All the opportunities for action to protect pollinators, and the ecosystems that are critical to their survival, can collectively be transformational in eliminating toxic pesticides that are major contributors to the collapse of biodiversity. This is why Beyond Pesticides starts most discussions and strategic actions for meaningful pollinator and biodiversity protection with the transition to practicing and supporting organic.  In launching National Pollinator Week, Beyond Pesticides makes suggestions for individual actions to increase efforts to think and act holistically to protect the environment that supports pollinators. The impact that people have starts with grocery store purchases and the management of gardens, parks, […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 20, 2025) In the same week, Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee in a straight party-line vote moved forward a proposal to gut U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) supplemental food program for low-income people, and USDA reversed course after the filing of a federal lawsuit spearheaded by farmers and environmentalists argued that the agency had illegally deleted climate data from its website in violation of several federal statutes. (See New York Times reporting here.) The Republican budget proposal (see full text here) for the next fiscal year, which will strip $300 billion in USDA funding, is proposed in President Trump’s “skinny budget” proposal. Throughout the past few months of uncertainty, a robust coalition of farmers, farmworkers, businesses, lawyers, public health professionals, and environmentalists has continued to fight for holistic food systems reform and protection of organic standards. Budget Reconciliation and Preemption Review The House GOP met for markups on May 12-13 to approve the agricultural portion of the proposed Reconciliation package before a full vote on May 16. The legislative language, passed along party-lines [29-25] in the agriculture committee, is considered “the largest overhaul in decades to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps more than […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 12, 2025) A growing body of evidence demonstrates the environmental, health, climate, and economic benefits of organic agriculture. With the weakening of pesticide regulation, public health and environmental advocates say that the organic alternative takes on more importance. In this context, Beyond Pesticides and allies are calling on Members of Congress to support a bipartisan wave of legislation aimed at improving the U.S. food system and, specifically, a series of bills that support organic agriculture, including the Organic Science and Research Investment Act (OSRI), S.1385, the New Producer Economic Security Act, S.1237, (previously Increasing Land, Security, and Opportunities Act (LASO), H.R.3955, in 2023-24), the newly-introduced Organic Imports Verification Act (OIVA), S.1398, and the newly-reintroduced Agriculture Resilience Act (ARA) [bill number not assigned at the time of publication].  In April, Senators John Fetterman (PA-D) and Sen. Adam Schiff (CA-D), reintroduced OSRI, S.1385, to ensure “organics research is prioritized at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and [increased] funding for research agencies and universities, [as well as ] provid[ing] much needed support to the organic farming industry.” The bill is cosponsored by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Peter Welch (D-VT), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Angus King (I-ME).  The New […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 24, 2025) As the congressionally created National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) of organic stakeholders meets this week to receive comments from the public on the semi-annual review of standards and allowed and prohibited substances in production and processing, multiple members of Congress are moving to shore up the organic sector for farmers and consumers. (See testimony here.) The current 119th Congress has brought a wave of bipartisan legislation aimed at improving the U.S. food system, including organic standards and programs. Organic advocates are pleased to see the introduction of a series of bills supporting organic, including the reintroduction of the Organic Science and Research Investment (OSRI) Act, S.1385, the New Producer Economic Security Act, S.1237, (previously Increasing Land, Security, and Opportunities (LASO) Act, H.R.3955, in 2023-24), and the newly-introduced Organic Imports Verification Act (OIVA), S.1398, among others. OIVA, introduced by Senators Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Tim Scott (R-SC), is intended to improve consumer confidence in imported organic goods with support for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Strengthening Organic Enforcement Rule. (See a joint press release by Senators Ricketts and Smith here.) Amid federal funding freezes and cuts that business leaders say undermine small […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 9, 2025) On March 12, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency would be shutting down the Environmental Justice and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices and staff at ten of the regional offices and the headquarters in Washington, D.C. Administrator Zeldin declared that this move implemented President Donald Trump’s Executive Order, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.” In response to this decision, ten Democratic U.S. Senators—led by Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) and including Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR)—co-sponsored the Empowering and Enforcing Environmental Justice Act of 2025 to Congress that would codify funding for environmental justice offices in the Department of Justice. (See Sen. Padilla’s press release here.) Senators Duckworth and Booker—founding co-chairs of the Senate Environmental Justice Caucus—also issued the following statement: “Underserved communities in rural, urban and tribal areas already shoulder the brunt of the climate crisis and environmental injustice. These cuts and reversals will make it even harder for these communities to address some of […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 17-20, 2025) Martin Luther King Day recognizes the achievements of a remarkable civil rights leader while asking the nation to assess what more the country must do to ensure equality and environmental justice, as well as protection for those who suffer disproportionately from toxic chemical exposure. Advocates and disproportionately affected communities acknowledge the historic nature of the Biden Administration’s commitment to elevating environmental justice in the decision-making of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). However, according to Willy Blackmore, writer for Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (“the oldest Black-owned newspaper in the state of Minnesota and one of the longest-standing, family-owned newspapers in the country”), “[T]he more systemic change that [Administrator] Regan’s EPA tried to bring about was stonewalled by legal challenges that threatened to undermine the agency’s strongest tool for righting environmental injustices.” Black communities across the nation face disproportionate impacts to petrochemical infrastructure and toxic chemicals, including pesticides and fertilizers. A 2021 study published in BMC Public Health found that biomarkers for 12 dangerous pesticides tracked over the past 20 years were found in the blood and urine of Black participants at average levels up to five times those in White participants. A University of Michigan study found […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 10, 2025) [Beyond Pesticides grieves for those tragically harmed by the Los Angeles fires.] As the new year begins with the bleak and devastating reminder brought on by the Los Angeles fires, the nation and world are reminded once again that dramatic land management changes are necessary to address the erratic weather conditions contributing to the force and effect of the fires and the length of the fire season. This is only the most recent reminder, as Beyond Pesticides and many organizations call for an urgent end to land management practices and inputs that rely on the production and use of petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers, which contribute to the global climate crisis. Often incorrectly referred to as natural disasters, environmental disasters, including fires, floods, and severe weather events, are brought on or exacerbated by widespread reliance on disruptive chemicals, which played a role in a delayed start to the southern California rainy season, hurricane-force winds, and low humidity levels—all elevated by climate change. As organic is increasingly understood to be a climate solution, OrganicClimateNet last year launched an aggressive effort to build the base of organic farmers in the European Union (EU).   As the climate crisis […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 16, 2024) In a study published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD), researchers from New York University (NYU) identify gaps in various federal agricultural support systems for organic farmers in a sweeping analysis. The research was spearheaded by Carolyn Dimitri, PhD, chair of the Nutrition and Food Studies program at NYU and a current member of the National Organics Standard Board (NOSB) as a public interest/consumer interest representative serving through January 2026. According to this study, there is a deficiency in institutionalized knowledge of national organic standards among existing U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agents and staff working in various agencies, including Risk Management Agency (RMA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Farming Service Agency (FSA). “A key recommendation from this study is the creation of specialized, highly trained crop insurance and conservation agents with expertise in organic farming systems to facilitate the application process and program use for conservation programs and crop insurance,” according to the researchers. The authors continue by echoing the sentiments of organic advocates and farmers across the nation on building organic integrity, saying, “The Organic Cost Share Program [a program of USDA’s FSA] would have more impact […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 25, 2024) On July 10, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) does not preempt pesticide exposure victims’ state law claims against pesticide manufacturers, based on reporting from The New Lede. This decision builds on years of judicial precedent from the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) that protects individuals’ right to use failure-to-warn claims against producers of toxic pesticides, including Bayer-Monsanto. The importance of judicial review is critical to protecting the public against public health impacts of toxic pesticide use in the context of last month’s SCOTUS decision ending Chevron Doctrine, and with it the end of deferring to federal regulatory agencies on ambiguities in statutory mandates. A growing coalition of environmental and public health advocates, organic farmers, trial attorneys, farmworkers, and physicians are united in pushing back against a concerted effort by industry and its allies to attack victims’ ability to sue under “failure-to-warn” through the Farm Bill, state legislatures, and the proposed federal budget for Fiscal Year 2025. Oregon Court of Appeals In 2022, a local trial court in Oregon ruled in favor of Monsanto on a lawsuit initiated by Jackson County residents Larry and […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 15, 2024) It is hot. Really hot. A serious response to this climate emergency requires, according to environmental advocates, a dramatic transformation in land management and an end to the use of petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers. Beyond the real-world adverse effects of the climate crisis— more intense and frequent fires, floods, hurricanes and hail storms, as well as the harm to health and biodiversity—the rising insurance premiums imposed by the insurance industry speaks to the need for an urgent systemic response. According to the paper, Pricing of Climate Risk Insurance: Regulation and Cross-Subsidies, “The unprecedented rise in natural disasters has led to catastrophic losses of more than $600 billion in the United States over the last two decades, roughly twice the losses of the previous 40 years combined.” While the events associated with climate are more accurately described as “human-made” rather than “natural” disasters, a 2023 Washington Post article reports that, “U.S. insurers have paid out $295.8 billion in natural disaster losses from 2020 to 2022, a record for a three-year period.” This has led to dramatic changes in the cost of insurance coverage and the decision of many carriers to deny coverage. The Washington Post writes, “At least […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 4, 2024) In reflecting on recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that reduce federal government powers to restrict hazardous chemicals, including pesticides (see Clean Water Act decision and federal restrictions of toxic hazards under the reversal of Chevron decision), two remaining authorities in state and local governments and in the courts have become the next battleground to protect health and the environment. What is at stake are two major backstops to weak federal controls and chemical company disregard for safety: the critical importance of state and local governments’ exercise of authority to restrict toxic chemicals, and the ability of people to sue corporations for their failure to warn about their products’ hazards.  The attack on state and local authority in the Farm Bill The Farm Bill in the U.S. House of Representatives: Prohibits the rights of states and local governments to restrict pesticides and protect public health and the environment. The language says the Farm Bill will “prohibit any State, instrumentality or political subdivision thereof… from directly or indirectly imposing or continuing in effect any requirements for, or penalize or hold liable any entity for failing to comply with requirements with respect to, labeling or packaging that is in […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 10, 2024) Expanding the planting of genetically engineered crops is the major focus of “The Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology – Plan for Regulatory Reform under the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology” (Framework), released in May by three federal agencies. In its Framework, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) use the words “exempt” or “exemption” in reference to federal safety regulations 21 times. Then, another 21 times the agencies identify their efforts to “streamline” the process for bringing genetically engineered “plant-incorporated protectants” (PIPs) to market. Without including the word “resistance” even once, the Framework advances the interests of the biotech and allied industries, ignoring the serious scientific issues regarding health and environmental effects and the economic failure for farmers facing crop loss. Meanwhile, the issue of resistance is not new to EPA, which has for years acknowledged the resistance problem despite allowing continued weed resistance to weed killers used with herbicide-tolerant crops and insect resistance to the pesticides incorporated into plants.   >> Tell USDA, FDA, and EPA to replace agricultural provisions in the Framework with policies that discourage GE crops […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 22, 2024) Today, on Earth Day, the future of the planet and the health of all its inhabitants come into focus from numerous human and ecosystem health perspectives, with particular concern for the health of the next generation—as childhood cancer continues to be a leading cause of death from disease among children. Many studies demonstrate an association between environmental or occupational pesticide exposure and the risk of childhood cancer in offspring. Taking Action in Your Community: On Earth Day, Beyond Pesticides invites communities to join together in its nationwide campaign to convert parks to organic land management practices through the Parks for a Sustainable Future program. Through this program, Beyond Pesticides works with park managers, bringing hands-on horticultural support to eliminate petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers and instead nurture soil organisms to cycle nutrients naturally while creating resilient landscapes that resist weeds, insects, and disease. This program outlines the steps to become a parks advocate and how Beyond Pesticides works with communities committed to safe parks and playing fields for communities, children, and pets. One major impetus for the Parks program are the many studies that find prenatal and early-life exposure to environmental toxicants increases disease susceptibility. For decades, studies have […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 29, 2024) Last week during National Agriculture Week, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) introduced S.4038, the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety (CARE), aiming to elevate labor standards for young workers in the agricultural sector, as protection from pesticides remains weak. Currently, agriculture stands as the sole industry that permits children—as young as 12 years old—to work without significant limits on their hours of employment outside of school time. This scenario is a reality for hundreds of thousands of children across the U.S., who undertake the demanding tasks of planting, harvesting, processing, and packaging the food produced nationwide. The CARE Act proposes to align the age and working hour criteria for underage workers in agriculture with those enforced in other sectors. Additionally, the legislation seeks to toughen both civil and criminal penalties for violations of child labor laws and to enhance safeguards for children against the risks of pesticide exposure. It is important to note, however, that the CARE Act would exempt farm-owning families, allowing their children to work on the family farm under the current guidelines. Exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) currently allow children to work unlimited hours, outside of school  hours, […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 28, 2024) Last week, Maine Central reported the first application was filed for Maine’s first-in-the nation PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) Fund. This $70 million federal-state Fund to Address PFAS Contamination (PFAS Fund) provides compensation for commercial farmers whose health, business, and land have been impacted by PFAS contamination. A critical component of this fund enables the state to purchase contaminated farmland at fair market, pre-contamination value, which in the state of Maine hovers at approximately $3,729 per acre when including estimated market value of land and buildings, according to newly released data in the 2022 Census of Agriculture. “Maine became the first state to ban sludge recycling and approve a 2030 ban on PFAS in nonessential products,” according to reporting by Maine Central. The state of Maine has exhibited extraordinary leadership in prioritizing public health, ecosystems, and the environment, setting an example for addressing a widespread contamination problem at the local, state, and national level. However, advocates in Maine are raising warnings after the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, according to reporting by Portland Press Herald, proposed “a compromise plan to regulate the sale of products containing forever chemicals [which] would exempt some federally regulated industries […]