Archive for the 'Pesticide Regulation' Category
14
Jul
(Beyond Pesticides, July 14, 2025) With the rise in early onset cancer rates and mortality for breast, pancreatic, and gastric cancers, a wide and growing body of science linking pesticides to cancer, and associations between childhood cancer and pesticides, Beyond Pesticides is urging nationwide efforts to eliminate the use of cancer causing pesticides. Peter Hopewood, MD, FACS, writing in a bulletin in the American College of Surgeons says, âThe coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been in the healthcare spotlight since 2019, but the reality is that heart disease and cancer killed more people than COVID-19 in 2020 . . . and were our nation’s leading causes of death for decades before that. Among Americans younger than 85 years of age, cancer remains the leading cause of death.â Dr. Hopewood is convinced that âcancer has been an ongoing pandemic since life expectancy increased during the 20th century.â  In 1985, Imperial Chemical Industries and the American Cancer Society declared October âBreast Cancer Awareness Monthâ as part of a campaign to promote mammograms for the early detection of breast cancer. Unfortunately, most of us are all too aware of breast cancer. Detection and treatment of cancers do not solve the problem. A preventive approach is needed, not just awareness. Barbara Brenner, […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Breast Cancer, Cancer, Children, Pesticide Regulation, Take Action, Uncategorized | No Comments »
10
Jul
(Beyond Pesticides, July 10, 2025) A study in People and Nature, with the goal of better understanding the social acceptability of introduced species management (ISM), often labeled âinvasive species,â in the U.S., âconducted an online experiment with vignettes describing hypothetical but realistic ISM scenarios, varying targeted taxon (insect or plant), control method (mechanical, chemical and biological), risk severity (low and high) and type of non-target risk (to humans or native species).â This study highlights the debate on defining âinvasiveâ species, as well as the low levels of acceptability by the general public for chemical controls such as pesticides. In addition, as pesticide hazards increase, the authors note that the responses show acceptance for only mechanical controls that incorporate manual removal of species, such as through pulling, cutting, clipping, or mowing. âSurprisingly, there was no significant difference in how respondents ranked risks to people and risks to native species,â the researchers report. This shows the values placed on both human health and biodiversity and âhighlight[s] the need for evidence-guided ISM, which includes evidence of harmful impacts of introduced species, as well as risks and benefits of management activities, as one potential way to increase the social acceptability of non-native species management.â […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Biodiversity, Disease/Health Effects, Goats, Invasive Species, Lawns/Landscapes, Pesticide Regulation, Pests | No Comments »
08
Jul
(Beyond Pesticides, July 8, 2025) A commentary published in Science of The Total Environment showcases the occupational and environmental exposure pathways of fossil-fuel-based pesticide and fertilizer products that children across the globe face, particularly in rural areas of low- and middle-income countries. The authors underscore âthe urgent need for multi-level systemic change, resilient health systems, and active stakeholder engagement,â which includes âsupport for safer and more sustainable agricultural practices.â This includes specific asks for governments âto offer technical assistance to producers and encourage organic and agroecological practices to ensure both environmental justice and food security.â Organic food systems, and criteria for land management systems more broadly, are critical to addressing the triple crises of biodiversity loss, public health collapse, and climate emergency. Organic law, as defined in the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) of 1991, is designed as a participatory process with accountability and transparency integral to the statutory language. The law creates the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), comprised of farmers, consumers, and conservation organizations, a scientific expert, an organic certifier, and a retailer with the statutory authority to adopt binding recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances. Simultaneously, the public […]
Posted in Children, Children/Schools, Environmental Justice, Farmworkers, International, National Organic Standards Board/National Organic Program, NOSB National Organic Standards Board, Occupational Health, Organic Foods Production Act OFPA, Pesticide Regulation, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | No Comments »
04
Jul
(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 âcertain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.â 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 factionsâdefined as a group of people or entities â… 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 communityââimpose on the general public, if not checked by safeguards in the countryâs 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: […]
Posted in Bayer, Biodiversity, Cancer, Chemical Mixtures, Children, Climate Change, Congress, Corporations, Disease/Health Effects, Environmental Justice, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Failure to Warn, Health care, Indigenous People, Label Claims, Monsanto, National Politics, Native Americans, Parks for a Sustainable Future, Pesticide Regulation, Preemption, State/Local, Take Action, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | No Comments »
30
Jun
(Beyond Pesticides, June 30, 2025) Temperatures are hotâand 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 onâŻdisruptive chemicals, which played a role in a delayed start to the southern California rainy season, hurricane-force winds, and low humidity levelsâallâŻelevated by climate change. While climate change may be most apparentârecord 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.âas crises are escalating in human disease and biodiversity collapse. Extreme heat is the deadliest weather disasterâkilling 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 fertilizersâmajor contributors to the climate crisisâwhile certified organic agriculture does. As organic is increasingly understood to be a climate solution,âŻOrganicClimateNetâŻlast year launched an aggressive effort to build the base of organic farmers in the European Union (EU). As the […]
Posted in Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change, Congress, Farm Bill, National Organic Standards Board/National Organic Program, Pesticide Regulation, Take Action, Uncategorized | No Comments »
24
Jun
(Beyond Pesticides, June 24, 2025) As changes in the executive branch of the federal government upend expectations among environmental stakeholders, the regulation of food safety in the United States is being revealed as a rickety structure built over a century with unpredictable and sometimes contradictory additions, extensions, remodels, and tear-downs. In the short term, clarity is unavailable, but there have been calls for revision and strengthening of regulatory processesârequiring lawmaker and regulator willingness to incorporate the vast body of evidence that pesticides do far more harm than good, and that organic regenerative agriculture is the surest path to human and ecological health. News reports out of Costa Rica in May brought public attention to drafted legislation to ban pesticides in the country that the World Health Organization (WHO) has defined as âextremely or highly hazardous, or those with evidence of causing cancer, genetic mutations, or affecting reproduction, according to the Globally Harmonized System (GHS).â The headline sparked a relook in this Daily News at the current and historical failure of U.S. policy, which allows cancer-causing pesticides in food production and land management, despite the booming success of a cost-effective and productive, certified organic sector for which petrochemical pesticides are not […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), Breast Cancer, Cancer, Endocrine Disruption, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Immunotoxicity, multi-generational effects, non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Pesticide Mixtures, Pesticide Regulation, synergistic effects, Uncategorized, World Health Organization | No Comments »
23
Jun
(Beyond Pesticides, June 23, 2025) At the close of National Pollinator week, Beyond Pesticides says in an action that all speciesâand their ecosystemâare threatened by the failure of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to perform its statutory duties under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Under FIFRA, EPA is required to register pesticides only when they pose no âunreasonable risk to man [sic] or the environment, taking into account the economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits.â Under ESA, EPA must, like all federal agencies, âseek to conserve endangered species and threatened species and shall utilize their authorities in furtherance of the purposesâ of the ESAâwhich are âto provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved, to provide a program for the conservation of such endangered species and threatened species, and to take such steps as may be appropriate to achieve the purposes of the treaties and conventionsâ through which âthe United States has pledged itself as a sovereign state in the international community to conserve to the extent practicable the various species of fish or wildlife and plants facing extinction.â In this context, Beyond Pesticides […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Biodiversity, Birds, Children, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Pesticide Regulation, Pollinators, Take Action, Uncategorized, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
06
Jun
(Beyond Pesticides, June 6, 2025) Published in Environmental Pollution, a study of commercial dry pet products finds dietary pesticide residues in dog and cat food, âhighlighting the urgent need for improved regulatory frameworks to address the presence of non-approved pesticides in pet food.â Additionally, the researchers point out: âCurrent regulatory frameworks primarily assess the toxicity of individual pesticide compounds, yet real-world exposure involves complex mixtures that may lead to additive or synergistic effects. The presence of multiple residues in a single sample suggests that companion animals may be subjected to combined toxicological burdens that are not yet fully understood.â (See studies here, here, and here.) The researchers assess pesticide contamination, and their associated toxicological risks, in 83 total food products for dogs (43) and cats (40). Of the foods tested, the researchers found a total of 51 pesticides, many of which are banned in the European Union (EU), including 47% fungicides and 37% insecticides. âPesticide residues in pet food pose potential risks to animal health, yet their occurrence and dietary exposure in companion animals remain largely unexplored,â the authors state. They continue: âTo our knowledge, this is one of the first comprehensive investigations assessing both pesticide prevalence and potential dietary […]
Posted in Atrazine, Carbendazim, Chlorpyrifos, contamination, European Union, Pesticide Mixtures, Pesticide Regulation, Pesticide Residues, Pets, synergistic effects | No Comments »
02
Jun
(Beyond Pesticides, June 2, 2025) One focus of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission report* is children’s exposure to environmental chemicals and its link to health risks, particularly cumulative risk and chronic disease. With the evidence showing that the current approach to regulating pesticides and other chemicals fails to protect children’s health, it remains to be seen whether next steps will seek an overhaul and reorientation on the United States’ current reliance in chemical-intensive agriculture on hazardous pesticides that have been proven unnecessary by productive and profitable organic food production and land management systems, according to advocates. Beyond Pesticides and advocates are calling on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to promote organic practices and protect children’s health from pesticides through the setting of pesticide tolerances on food, or allowable levels of pesticide residuesâtaking back an authority given to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under a memorandum of understanding. The Food and Drug Administration, under HHS, is authorized to set tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), and EPA is authorized to register pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The predictable response from […]
Posted in Children, Department of Health and Human Services, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Pesticide Regulation, Pesticide Residues, Take Action, Uncategorized | No Comments »
04
Apr
(Beyond Pesticides, April 4, 2025) In March, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) announced the launch of SprayDays California, âa first-of-its-kind statewide system designed to provide transparent, accessible and timely notifications and information about the use of specific pesticides[,]â according to the agencyâs press release. The state says that notification will occur in âadvance of the scheduled use of California restricted material pesticides in production agriculture.â Growing out of the passage of AB 617 Community Emissions Reduction Act in California, passed in 2017, farmworker safety advocates have long been urging an implementation strategy that provides notification of pesticide spraying. In late 2017, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) began implementation of AB 617, a bill enacted with the stated intent of addressing the air quality crisis in many communities of predominantly people of color who are disproportionately harmed by toxic chemicals. While the overall goal of the law is to reduce air pollution in these communities, farmworker advocates have sought to operationalize a pesticide spraying notification system to warn communities when nearby spraying is scheduled to take place. The idea behind notification programs and transparency in government is that it enables those potentially exposed to take precautionary measures to […]
Posted in California, Environmental Justice, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Farmworkers, Pesticide Drift, Pesticide Regulation, State/Local, Telone, Uncategorized | No Comments »
10
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 10, 2025) With the shutting down of key federal government programs, Beyond Pesticides is urging the public to speak out, especially on issues that preserve state and local authority to protect public health and safety in the absence of adequate federal standards. In this context, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering a petition with a proposed policy that would, if adopted, prohibit states from issuing warnings of pesticide hazards, like cancer, on product labels. EPA is taking public comment through February 20, 2025, on the petition, filed by the Republican attorneys general (AGs) of 11* states.  The petition asks EPA to prohibit âany state labeling requirements inconsistent with EPA findings and conclusions from its human health risk assessment on human health effects, such as a pesticide’s likelihood to cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm.â [*The 11 states filing the petition include: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, and South Dakota.] According to Beyond Pesticides: âThe only conclusion that can be derived from this petition is that the AGs do not care if the people, including farmers, of their states are harmed by pesticides, and they should not be able […]
Posted in and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), California, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Failure to Warn, Pesticide Regulation, Preemption, Take Action, U.S. Supreme Court, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
06
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 6, 2025) Months after publishing a June 2024 study regarding concentrations of pesticides discovered in legal (and illegal) cannabis products in California, the Los Angeles Times has released a follow-up exposĂŠ highlighting extensive pesticide contamination, including from âhiddenâ pesticides that regulators have not monitored. The authors conclude that in Californiaâs legal weed market, over half of available smoking products are found to contain hidden chemicalsâtoxic pesticides present in products but not regulated or monitored by state authorities. Since 2015, Beyond Pesticides has laid out health, safety, and environmental concerns related to the contamination of cannabis by pesticides (and fertilizers) alongside an imperative need to mandate an organic systems approach to cannabis production. Yet ten years later, it appears nationally that California state regulators are alone in moving forward in 2021 with state organic cannabis certification. There are other marketplace-based cannabis certification labels that require comparable organic certification practices (see Beyond Pesticides reporting here and here). For more information, please see past Pesticides and You reporting here and here. The Los Angeles Times analyzed the results from state licensed laboratory testing of more than 370 legal cannabis products, representing 86 brands. In addition to the 66 chemicals required […]
Posted in Acephate, Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), Bifenthrin, California, Cannabis, chlorfenapyr, contamination, Fungicides, Integrated and Organic Pest Management, National Organic Standards Board/National Organic Program, organophosphate, Pesticide Regulation, pymetrozine, trifloxystrobin, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
28
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 28, 2025) Beyond Pesticides is urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to move more cautiously in  its proposal for âstreamlined . . . registration review decisions for several biopesticides,â subject to a public comment period through February 10, 2025. The organization is raising EPA review process concerns. The organization states: âAlthough the biopesticides listed in EPA’s proposal for streamlining the registration review process for âlow risk biopesticidesâ can be considered relatively low risk compared to conventional pesticides, the precedent for relying on the original or previous registration data and review is troublesome. EPA’s rationale for registration reviewâthat âscience is constantly evolving, and new scientific information can come to light at any time and change our understanding of potential effects from pesticides,â should guide the agency in its decisionsâespecially when previous decisions have depended on limited actual data, data waiver request rationales, and purported absence of new data or adverse incidents reported.â While Beyond Pesticides advocates for allowance of pesticides compatible with organic standards that are protective of human health, biodiversity, and healthy ecosystems, it urges EPA to establish rigorous standards in its registration review of these materials. The issue of biopesticide review is made complicated by the […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Biodiversity, Biological Control, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Integrated and Organic Pest Management, Pesticide Regulation, Take Action, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
24
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 24, 2025) Based on data collected from government sources and independent monitoring, a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Connecticut finds that 46% of Connecticut waterway samples are contaminated with levels of the neonicotinoid insecticide, imidaclopridâone of the most widely used insecticides in the United States on lawn and golf courses. The authors relied on federal data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), state-level data from Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT-DEEP), and a small-scale data collection study by the Clean Rivers Project funded by the nonprofit Pollinator Pathway, Inc. In their report, Neonicotinoids in Connecticut Waters: Surface Water, Groundwater, and Threats to Aquatic Ecosystems, the researchers provide the most comprehensive view to date of neonicotinoid levels in Connecticut and offer critical recommendations for future testing within the state and nationally, given glaring data gaps. It is important to note that the authors acknowledged early in the report the “abandonmentâ of Integrated Pest Management in âthe use of neonicotinoids has coincided with and been implicated in the decline of many non-target species of insects, in particular pollinators such as bees () and monarch butterflies.â They point out that […]
Posted in Connecticut, Drinking Water, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Groundwater, Integrated and Organic Pest Management, neonicotinoids, Pesticide Drift, Pesticide Regulation, Pesticide Residues, U.S. Geological Survey, Uncategorized, Water, Water Regulation | No Comments »
17
Jan
(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 Administrationâs 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 (âthe oldest Black-owned newspaper in the state of Minnesota and one of the longest-standing, family-owned newspapers in the countryâ), â[T]he more systemic change that [Administrator] Reganâs EPA tried to bring about was stonewalled by legal challenges that threatened to undermine the agencyâs strongest tool for righting environmental injustices.â 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 […]
Posted in Breast Cancer, Cancer, Clean Water Act, Climate Change, Congress, Disease/Health Effects, Environmental Justice, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Farm Bill, Farmworkers, NOSB National Organic Standards Board, Pesticide Regulation, President-elect Transition, Reflection, State/Local, Uncategorized | No Comments »
15
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 15, 2025) There is robust scientific literature that unpacks the adverse human health effects of pesticide exposure, however immunological impacts do not receive adequate attention in regulatory review processes, according to an in-depth literature review. In a piece published in Frontiers in Immunology (2024) critiquing recent peer-reviewed scientific studies, as well as unpublished research produced by the Institute of Biology and Experimental Medicine in partnership with the National Scientific and Technical Research Council in Argentina, researchers assess immune system effects of pesticide exposure, which creates the conditions for deadly health conditions including various forms of cancer. The focus of this study, according to the authors, is âto critically review fundamental aspects of toxicological studies conducted on PPPs [Plant Protection Products] to provide a clearer understanding of the risks associated with exposure to these compounds on human health.â PPPs are pesticide products that contain more than one active ingredient, and can include synergistic ingredients that supercharge them alongside inert ingredients that pesticide companies are not legally required to disclose under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), but are often manipulated biologically and chemically active. Most studies analyze the toxicological impacts of active ingredients in isolation rather […]
Posted in Bayer, Cancer, Chemical Mixtures, Chlorpyrifos, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Glyphosate, Immunotoxicity, organophosphate, Pesticide Regulation, Uncategorized | No Comments »
06
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 6, 2025) With the incoming U.S. president promising the âmost aggressive regulatory reductionâ ever seen in the countryâs history, attention shifts to local and state governmentsâ responsibility to protect health and the environment. While the reliance on local governments to fill the gaps left by deficient federal action is not new, the U.S. system of federalism has historically and constitutionally required a sharing of powers from local to state to federal, with a reliance on agencies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a basic level of protections. While the role of local and state governments has been critical to ensuring environmental and public health protection when scientific findings have shown federal action to be inadequate, the new administration has outlined a course that suggests an increasingly important role for local and state governments. As Beyond Pesticides has reported, âMr. Trump, who has called climate change a âhoax,â has targeted âevery oneâ of Mr. Bidenâs policies designed to transition the United States away from fossil fuels,â according to The New York Times. This is happening as the country and world face serious catastrophic threats of ongoing and escalating health, biodiversity, and climate crises. In this context, […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Climate, Fertilizer, Lawns/Landscapes, Parks, Parks for a Sustainable Future, Pesticide Regulation, Take Action, Uncategorized | No Comments »
19
Dec
(Beyond Pesticides, December 19, 2024) As The New York Times reported last month, the government in South Africa declared a national emergencyâ23 children died and nearly 900 people were sickened from pesticide poisoning in Johannesburgâs Soweto township. The illnesses and fatalities have been traced to small amounts of highly neurotoxic pesticides, including the insecticides terbufos and aldicarb, found in local food items. These chemicals, described by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa as âstreet pesticides,â are being increasingly used (legally and illegally) for pest infestations in the townships and informal settlements of South Africaâs poorest communities, where poverty and inadequate waste collection exacerbates the pest management challenges. Without formal electricity, running water, or municipal garbage collection, many residents rely on highly toxic pesticides for pest infestations in their homes and makeshift markets, resulting in food inadvertently being contaminated with pesticides. The announcement highlights the dangers of allowing these highly toxic agricultural chemicals to be used in farming, with tragic consequences for vulnerable communities when they are diverted for use in urban settings. This tragic situation also draws attention to the elevated threat that pesticides pose when stringent enforcement mechanisms are not in place to ensure compliance with pesticide restrictions, even with […]
Posted in Agriculture, Aldicarb, Bayer, Children, contamination, Death, Environmental Justice, Farmworkers, Food Borne Illness, Imidacloprid, Monsanto, organophosphate, Paraquat, Pesticide Regulation, Pests, Poisoning, Rodenticide, Rodents, terbufos, thiacloprid, Uncategorized, United Nations | No Comments »
18
Dec
(Beyond Pesticides, December 18, 2024) A bombshell investigation conducted by Canadaâs National Observer finds that Bayer, which acquired the Monsanto chemical company in 2018, colluded with environmental and public health regulators in Canada to obstruct a proposed neonicotinoid insecticide ban originally introduced in 2018. Advocates were stunned back in 2021 when Canadaâs Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA)âthe Canadian counterpart to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)âreversed its decision to phase out imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam by 2023. The weaponization of scientific institutions and regulatory processes is commonplace in the U.S. context, with U.S. Right to Know publishing a report earlier this year on the corrupting impact of pesticide manufacturers at the Entomological Society of America 2023 annual meeting. (See Daily News here.) There are numerous Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports signaling EPA corruption and failures, including persisting industry influence in the cancer risk assessment process, inadequate leadership in addressing community harms of a former creosote-treated wood preservative plant turned Superfund site in Pensacola, Florida, and failure to protect the public from endocrine-disrupting chemicals, to name several examples. In a recent press release, the David Suzuki Foundation, alongside numerous medical, legal, and civil society organizations, is calling on Health Canada […]
Posted in acetamiprid, Bayer, Canada, Clothianidin, Health Canada, Imidacloprid, Monsanto, neonicotinoids, Pesticide Regulation, thiacloprid, Thiamethoxam, Uncategorized | No Comments »
13
Dec
(Beyond Pesticides, December 13, 2024) In October, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the registration applications of BASF Corporation and Mitsui Chemicals Crop & Life Solutions, Inc. for the use of different formulations of the L-isomer of glufosinate (also known as âL-glufosinateâ and âglufosinate-Pâ) as new active herbicidal ingredients. This decision marks one of the first times that EPA has employed its new Herbicide  Strategy Framework to determine the level of mitigation necessary to protect listed species and critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Glufosinate is an organophosphate, with known neurotoxic, reproductive/developmental effects, toxic to aquatic life, and mobile in soils (see Beyond Pesticides Gateway). Scientists have found that formulated glufosinate is generally more toxic to aquatic and terrestrial animals than the technical grade active ingredient. Manufacturers are introducing newer glufosinate products as alternatives for glyphosate-based herbicides, like Bayer/Monsantoâs âRoundupâ and dicamba. The Center for Biological Diversity notes in comments submitted to EPA on this decision, âL-glufosinate has the potential to be used on tens of millions acres of land every year given the crops EPA has proposed to register it on. The scale of potential use is far above most new active ingredients.â This first significant application […]
Posted in Agriculture, BASF, Chemical Mixtures, Chemicals, Endangered Species Act (ESA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), glufosinate, Herbicides, Lawns/Landscapes, Pesticide Regulation, Uncategorized, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
05
Nov
(Beyond Pesticides, November 5, 2024) Published in the journal Frontiers in Toxicology, a recent study uncovers serious flaws in the pesticide registration process at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with an in-depth evaluation of the agencyâs failure to protect the public from the harmful effects of five neonicotinoid (neonic) insecticidesâas mandated by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and amendments, including Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996. This coincides with EPA’s ongoing review to renew their approval for the next 15 years (set to be announced in 2025). The report is based on the first comprehensive assessment of unpublished rodent-based Developmental Neurotoxicity (DNT) studies, conducted between 2000-2003 and submitted by pesticide manufacturers as part of the registration process. All five neonicotinoids evaluatedâacetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxamâare associated with significant shrinkage of brain tissue at the highest dosage, according to EPA data reports (see acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam). However, with little or no data regarding the chemicalsâ impacts at low and mid-level dosages, EPA has either failed to find a âNo Observed Adverse Effect Levelâ (NOAEL) or, seemingly at random, set the NOAEL at the mid-level dosage. The evaluation suggests that perinatal exposure to […]
Posted in acetamiprid, behavioral and cognitive effects, Brain Effects, Children, Clothianidin, Developmental Disorders, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Epigenetic, Imidacloprid, Learning Disabilities, Pesticide Regulation, Reproductive Health, thiacloprid, Thiamethoxam, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
04
Nov
(Beyond Pesticides, November 4, 2024) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week opened a public comment period on the regulation of endocrine-disrupting pesticides, a proposal that lays out a drawn-out 10-year process that is narrow in evaluating the underlying mechanism that causes endocrine disruption. The proposal, published in the Federal Register as a partial settlement agreement and consent decree, responds to a lawsuit filed by farmworker and health groups challenging the agency’s failure to test and regulate endocrine-disrupting pesticides. Earlier in the year, after over 25 years of delay following the 1996 Congressional mandate to determine whether pesticides disrupt the endocrine system of humans and other organisms, EPA issued a proposal for modifying its approach to the implementation of the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP). The National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences explains endocrine disruptors this way: âEndocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are natural or human-made chemicals that may mimic, block, or interfere with the bodyâs hormones, which are part of the endocrine system. These chemicals are associated with a wide array of health issues. . . Endocrine glands, distributed throughout the body, produce the hormones that act as signaling molecules after release into the circulatory system. The human body is […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Chemicals, Endocrine Disruption, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Litigation, Pesticide Regulation, Take Action, Uncategorized | No Comments »
24
Oct
(Beyond Pesticides, October 24, 2024) When U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced S. 5084, Safe School Meals Act (SSMA) in September, he identified four objectives: Directing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to set safe limits for heavy metals in school meals. The limits will be based on a threshold of reasonable certainty of no harm to school-age children from aggregate exposure. If the agencies fail to set these limits within two years, the limits will automatically be set to non-detectable until the agencies can determine a safe level of exposure. Banning glyphosate, paraquat, and organophosphate pesticide residues in school meals. Certified organic farms would automatically meet this requirement. Banning PFAS, phthalates, lead, and bisphenols in food packaging in school meals. Directing FDA to reevaluate food additives with known carcinogenic, reproductive, or developmental health harms, such as artificial food dyes, and ban their use in school meals prior to the completion of FDAâs analysis. While groups like Beyond Pesticides applaud Senator Bookerâs initiative to restrict exposure to some of the most hazardous toxicants, especially the most vulnerable subpopulation of children, their goal is to provide organic food to school children. In this spirit, groups have advocated that the U.S. Department […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Chemicals, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Organic Foods Production Act OFPA, Pesticide Regulation, Uncategorized | No Comments »