Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
05
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 5, 2019) Linuron, an herbicide registered for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), yet recently banned in Europe due to health concerns, appears to trigger inflammatory signals that have been linked to the onset of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). This new evidence, published in the journal Cell by researchers at Brigham and Womenâs Hospital in Boston, MA, indicates that exposure to chemicals and pesticides in the environment may be a risk factor in the development of neurodegenerative diseases. âWe created a platform to systematically investigate the understudied effects of environmental exposures,â said study coauthor Francisco Quintana, PhD. âThe goal of our work is to return results that can guide future epidemiological studies and identify actionable targets.” Researchers began their investigation with 976 chemicals identified by EPAâs ToxCast program, an inventory of compounds that have undergone screening for a battery of laboratory tests. Within that inventory, 75 chemicals, including linuron, were found to interfere with the signaling pathways linked to MS. To confirm the adverse impacts, scientists used the embryos of zebrafish, animals often used as models in laboratory research. The zebrafish embryos were altered to contain low levels of myelin, a protein that protects nerve cells, as […]
Posted in Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lawns/Landscapes, Linuron, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Pesticide Regulation, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
04
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 4, 2019) Although the rusty patched bumblebee was placed on the endangered species list in 2017, the Trump Administration has failed to put in place legally required safeguards for the species. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) must designate locations where additional protections could help restore the endangered bumblebeeâs population. Tell Your U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators to Urge U.S. Department of Interior Acting Secretary David Bernhardt to protect the endangered rusty patched bumblebee as required by law. DOIâs failure to comply with requirements under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is consistent with the Trump Administrationâs continued disregard for ongoing pollinator declines and environmental protections in general. Under ESA, DOI is required to determine âcritical habitatâ that contains physical and biological requirements a listed species needs in order to recover. That area must be designated within one year of placing a species on the endangered list, using best available scientific data. The Trump Administrationâs DOI has failed to do so under either former Director Ryan Zinke or Acting Director David Bernhardt. Without determining critical habitat, the administration is in violation of the ESA, and the survival of a critical endangered species is threatened. The rusty patched bumblebee has a […]
Posted in Biodiversity, Department of Interior, Pollinators, Take Action, Uncategorized, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | 3 Comments »
01
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 1, 2019)Â Prior to a pesticide ban taking effect in Montgomery County Maryland Parks, the Department of Parks announced in mid-December 2018 that it would discontinue the use of glyphosate-based herbicides through March 2019. The agency has used these hazardous herbicides as part of its IPM (Integrated Pest Management) program for weed management. Montgomery Parks indicates it will release further information on the use of glyphosate in mid-March. In November last year, Montgomery County Council member Tom Hucker wrote to the head of Parks, supported by a community-wide petition, urging that glyphosate be banned immediately, pending implementation of the county ban. He cited the finding of the International Agency for Research on Cancerâs (World Health Organization) finding that the chemical probably causes cancer in humans and the $289 million jury verdict last year that the chemical caused a school groundskeeperâs non Hodgkin lymphoma. In 2016, Montgomery Parks instituted a pesticide reduction program in compliance with Montgomery County, Marylandâs 2015 adoption of County Code 33B, which aimed to regulate use of pesticides on county-owned property, including parks, and on private property. In 2017, a Montgomery Circuit Court overturned the portion of the law pertaining to a ban on private […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Bayer, Children, Glyphosate, Lawns/Landscapes, Maryland, Monsanto, Preemption, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
31
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 31, 2019) On January 16, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed a new rulemaking petition demanding that USDA explicitly prohibit hydroponics from the organic label and revoke all existing organic certifications on hydroponic operations. CFS and more than a dozen co-signing organizations grounded their demands in the failure of hydroponic production to increase soil fertility, conserve biodiversity, and build soil organic matter, all legally required to achieve certification under the Organic Food Production Act (OFPA). Hydroponic plants are grown without soil and fed entirely through manufactured nutrient solutions. Hydroponic operations rely on nutrient inputs that do not return to the system. Whether or not these inputs are organic products, the hydroponic practices themselves, CFS notes, fulfill zero out of the three core requirements that define âorganic productionâ in OFPA: to âfoster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity.â The central principle of the legal argument is that soil is integral to organic production. Citing OFPA, to be called organic, producers must engage in practices that actively support the rich, living biodiversity of the soil that sustains future production. The prohibition of hydroponics from organic certification has been the position of organic regulators and the […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Hydroponics, National Organic Standards Board/National Organic Program, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | No Comments »
30
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January, 30, 2019) Bug bombs are completely ineffective at reducing German cockroach infestations, according to new research published in the journal BMC Public Health. Â Not only are they ineffective, research indicates that these products are putting people at unnecessary risk. “In a cost-benefit analysis, you’re getting all costs and no benefits,â said Zachary DeVries, PhD, co-author of the study. “Bug bombs are not killing cockroaches; they’re putting pesticides in places where the cockroaches aren’t; they’re not putting pesticides in places where cockroaches are and they’re increasing pesticide levels in the home.” Scientists enrolled residents in 30 low-income apartments that had ongoing German cockroach infestations. Of the 30 homes, 20 were treated with a name-brand total release fogger (TRF), or bug bomb, and and 10 were treated only with gel baits. Baseline pesticide residue levels were recorded in all residences, and new data was collected after use of the bug bombs. Bug bombs were set off in each infested apartmentâs kitchen, according to EPA label precautions. Residents waited 4-6 hours before ventilating and returning to their homes. In apartments receiving baiting gel treatments, the products were applied three times on an as-needed basis during the course of a month. […]
Posted in Bug Bombs, Cockroaches, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Pesticide Efficacy, Uncategorized | No Comments »
29
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 29, 2019) After eight months of deliberation and discussion, the European Parliamentâs Special Committee (the PEST Committee) overwhelmingly approved its draft report in early December 2018 with recommendations to strengthen pesticide restrictions. PEST was established in January 2018 to assess the European Unionâs authorization procedure for pesticides. The groupâs charge was to review the European Unionâs (EUâs) pesticide authorization process, identify its failures in evaluating and approving pesticides and their use (including any conflicts of interest impacting the process), and make recommendations to improve the protection of human, animal, and environmental health from pesticides. The 30-member committee concluded: improvement of the system will require changes in the entirety of the pesticide approval process â from the point of industry application for authorization of a pesticide, to the sale and use of any products containing the compound in EU Member States, to evaluation of impacts of its use once on the market. The approval, sale, use, and regulation of what the EU calls âPlant Protection Productsâ [PPP] â active substances used to â1) to protect plants or plant products against pests/diseases, 2) to influence the life processes of plants (such as substances influencing their growth, excluding nutrients) and […]
Posted in International, Pesticide Regulation, Uncategorized | No Comments »
28
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 28, 2019) AÂ September 2018 report from the Office Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified issues important to protecting health and the environment. The EPAâs response to the report left many of these problems unresolved. Measures and Management Controls Needed to Improve EPAâs Pesticide Emergency Exemption Process (Report No. 18-P-0281, September 25, 2018), finds that the agencyâs practice of routinely granting âemergencyâ approval for pesticides through its Section 18 program does not effectively measure risks to human health or the environment. Tell Congress to Ask the EPA Administrator to Close the âEmergencyâ Pesticide Use Loophole, and Adopt All the Recommendations of the Office of the Inspector General. Under Section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), EPA has the authority to approve the temporary emergency use of unapproved pesticides if the agency determines the pesticide is needed to prevent the spread of an unexpected outbreak of crop-damaging insects, for example. But this provision has been widely abused. The inspector general recommends EPA âdevelop and implement applicable outcome-based performance measures to demonstrate the human health and environmental effects of the EPAâs emergency exemption decisions.â EPA disagreed and said, [T]he development […]
Posted in Agriculture, Antibiotic, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Take Action, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
25
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 25, 2019) The partial government shutdownânow in its second monthâis disrupting federal oversight of food safety for various pathogens and pesticides. Labs are shuttered, many government agency employees are furloughed, and those still working are doing so without pay. The ongoing obstruction to government assessment of the food supply puts U.S. consumers at risk. Workers from the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) have expressed concerns about the U.S. Department of Agricultureâs (USDA)Â AMS Pesticide Data Program. This program samples, tests, and reports about pesticide residues in U.S. agricultural commodities, with a focus on chemicals that could cause problems for infants and children. Peter Kyriacopoulos, senior director of public policy at APHL, stated that only one of the ten public health laboratories is planning on continuing testing samples during the shutdown without compensation. Additionally, APHA has reported issues regarding DNA analysis of food samples involved in foodborne outbreaks. DNA samples from sick patients are used to trace back the source of outbreaks and lead to assessment of food production facilities. While outbreak investigations are headed by the currently fully-operational Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), interdepartmental research involving the USDA and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is […]
Posted in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | No Comments »
24
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 24, 2019) A UK Study has concluded that the expansion of community gardens, identified as âpollinator hotspotsâ with âhigh pollinator diversity,â offer an important opportunity for assisting ailing pollinator species and improving community quality of life, particularly in low income neighborhoods. Consequently, researchers suggest towns and cities can be planned and managed more effectively to steward existing urban biodiversity to create essential havens for pollinators and people under stress. The study finds that, âA high level of community robustness to species loss is increasingly recognized as an important goal in restoration ecology, since robust communities are better able to withstand perturbations.â As previous research has shown that organic agriculture boosts local economies, researchers account for and compare a key socioeconomic factor; household income. Affluent neighborhoods have larger, more numerous, and more consistently maintained gardens and green spaces. To increase city-scale robustness, researchers suggest increasing community garden allotments, planting perennial flowering plants in cemeteries, and improving management of public parks. However, researchers explain that increasing the number of community gardens, particularly in communities of low-income, would be the best strategy per unit area, as it would expand viable habitat for pollinators throughout cities while providing much-needed green space […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Beneficials, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environmental Justice, Habitat Protection, International, Lawns/Landscapes, Pollinators, Uncategorized | No Comments »
23
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January, 23, 2019) Individuals that have been acutely poisoned by pesticides at some time in their life may be more likely to lose their sense of smell, according to a recent study published in Environmental Health Perspectives. Â Researchers focused on the effect of high pesticide exposure events (HPEE), such as a pesticide spill or other incident, on a farmersâ ability to smell later in life. This is the first study to indicate pesticide exposure may result in olfactory impairment. Farmers from Iowa and North Carolina enrolled in an ongoing U.S. Agricultural Health Study have been asked about their pesticide use roughly every 5 to 6 years since 1993. In the most recent survey, taken from 2013-2015, farmers were asked additional questions about HPEE in their lifetime and whether they had a significantly decreased or impaired sense of smell. âStudying farmers gives us more reliable data on pesticide exposures than if we had studied the general population,â says Honglei Chen, MD, PhD, lead author and professor of epidemiology at Michigan State University in a press release. âBecause they use pesticides more and itâs part of their job, theyâre more likely to remember what pesticides they used and in cases […]
Posted in 2,4-D, Agriculture, Alachlor, DDT, Lindane, olfactory effects, organochlorines, Pendimethalin, Uncategorized | No Comments »
22
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 22, 2019) Earlier this month, U.S. Representative Nydia VelĂĄsquez (D-NY) introduced The Ban Toxic Pesticides Act, H.R.230 which bans the insecticide chlorpyrifos from commerce. Chlorpyrifos is a toxic chemical that has been linked to damaging and often irreversible health outcomes in workers, pregnant women, and children. As a result of a revised human health risk assessment, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed a regulation to ban chlorpyrifos in 2016. Under the Trump Administration, the EPA has taken steps to reverse the regulation. âItâs unconscionable for EPA to turn a blind eye as children and workers are exposed to this poison,â VelĂĄzquez said.  âIf the EPA wonât do its job when it comes to chlorpyrifos, then Congress needs to act â and do so quickly.â Ask your U.S. Representative to Co-Sponsor H.R. 230 to Stop the Use of the Toxic Insecticide Chlorpyrifos, which Is Damaging Childrenâs Brains. Chlorypyrifos is a widely used pesticide. Agriculture companies annually spray 6 million pounds of the substance on crops like citrus, apples, and cherries.  In the same family as Sarin gas, the substance was initially developed prior to World War II as a chemical weapon. It can overstimulate the nervous system to cause […]
Posted in Agriculture, Brain Effects, Children, Chlorpyrifos, Dow Chemical, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Hawaii, Nervous System Effects, Take Action, Uncategorized | No Comments »
18
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 18, 2019)Â A new analysis by Charles Benbrook, PhD, published in the journal Environmental Sciences Europe, adds to the chronicle of the failures of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect human health from toxic pesticides, and in this subject instance, from glyphosate. Meanwhile, a French Court has pulled the license for a Roundup product, citing the French governmentâs failure to protect public health. In his paper, Dr. Benbrook examines the divergent positions on the carcinogenicity of glyphosate â the active ingredient in a number of herbicides, most notably Monsantoâs (now Bayerâs) Roundup â taken by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and by EPA. The paper calls out EPAâs handling of science related to the safety of glyphosate, suggesting that the agency has discounted evidence of the compoundâs association with genotoxicity â destructive effects on cellular genetic material that can cause mutations â which can result in cancer. Dr. Benbrook is an American agricultural economist, former executive director of the National Academy of Sciences board on agriculture, and former research professor at the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources at Washington State University. He has long studied pesticide use related to genetically engineered […]
Posted in Bayer, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Glyphosate, International, Monsanto, Uncategorized | No Comments »
17
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 17, 2019) Although the rusty patched bumblebee was placed on the endangered species list in 2017, the Trump Administration has failed to put in place legally required safeguards for the species. As a result, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is suing the Administrationâs Department of the Interior (DOI) for failing to designate locations where additional protections could help restore the endangered bumblebeeâs population. Advocates say DOIâs failure to comply with requirements under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is consistent with the Trump Administrationâs continued disregard for ongoing pollinator declines and environmental protections in general. Under ESA, DOI is required to determine âcritical habitatâ that contains physical and biological requirements a listed species needs in order to recover. That area must be designated within one year of placing a species on the endangered list, using best available scientific data. But the Trump Administrationâs DOI, under both former Director Ryan Zinke and Acting Director David Bernhardt, has failed to do so, in violation of ESA. NRDCâs legal director Rebecca Riley notes that this lack of follow-through âleaves this highly endangered beeâs habitat at risk of destruction and decreases the speciesâ chance for survival.â The rusty patched bumblebee has […]
Posted in Biodiversity, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Pollinators, Take Action, Uncategorized, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
16
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 16, 2019) Preliminary counts in California indicate the western monarch butterfly population dropped 86% from 2017 to 2018. The survey is a result of an annual effort by volunteer citizen scientists, organized by the nonprofit organization Xerces Society. If the trend from the initial sample (97 sites) holds true, the population of overwintering butterflies is estimated to be less than 30,000 â 0.05% of its historical size. Full and vetted results will be published in late January. To get an accurate count of monarch populations, volunteers follow a monitoring guide, which recommends beginning a count on a still, cool, and dry morning so that monarchs are still clustered together. Volunteers count a small cluster of monarchs and then extrapolate that number to arrive at a total for the larger cluster theyâre observing. Citizen science has been crucial to understanding the decline of monarchs and insects worldwide. As covered by The New York Times, the current âInsect Apocalypseâ has largely been documented by volunteers. The dismal numbers recorded this year are potentially disastrous, as the predicted extinction threshold for overwintering western monarchs is a population of 30,000. However this threshold, based on population densities needed for thermoregulation and mating […]
Posted in Glyphosate, neonicotinoids, Pollinators, Uncategorized, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
15
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 14, 2019)Â Â A petition submitted on January 7 by the Center for Biological Diversity calls on the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to initiate rulemaking to proscribe nearly all pesticide use in areas that are deemed critical habitat for endangered species. It asks these federal agencies to use the authority they have under the 1973 Endangered Species Act (ESA) to protect wildlife from the threats represented by pesticides â which threats both agencies have long recognized. The language of the ESA says its purpose is âto provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved.â In its press release on the petition, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) notes that it comes âafter decades of intransigence by the Environmental Protection Agency, which has refused to comply with the legal mandates of the Endangered Species Act to protect the nationâs most imperiled species from highly toxic pesticides like chlorpyrifos and atrazine that are known to harm wildlife.â CBD environmental health director Lori Ann Burd said, âPesticides pose a devastating danger to endangered wildlife, from coast to coast. If the EPA isnât going to […]
Posted in Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Pesticide Regulation, Uncategorized, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
14
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 14, 2019) Tell Congress to stop the Trump administration from opening the floodgates to permit widespread use of antibiotics in citrus production (grapefruits, oranges and tangerines). Despite the building national and international crisis of deadly bacterial resistance to antibiotics, this new allowance would expand on an emergency use decision the Environmental Protection Agency made in 2017. It permits up to 480,000 acres of citrus trees in Florida to be treated with more than 650,000 pounds of streptomycin per year; 23,000 citrus acres in California will likely be treated annually. The World Health Organization has called bacterial resistance âone of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today.â Tell your U.S. Senators and Representative to urge EPA to reject the use of antibiotics in food production, including citrus production. The two approved antibacterial chemicals to be used as pesticides in citrus production are streptomycin and oxytetracycline. Their use was permitted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under an emergency exemption in May, 2017 for a citrus greening disease caused by the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) in Florida citrus crops through December of 2019. The Environmental Protection Agency announced March 15, âEPA is issuing these tolerances without notice and opportunity […]
Posted in Agriculture, Antibiotic, Antibiotic Resistance, Take Action, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
11
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 11, 2019) Plans to weaken farmworker protections from toxic pesticides were dropped by Acting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler, according to an undated letter sent to Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) late last year. Reports indicate the action was part of a deal cut by both parties that permitted confirmation of Alexandra Dunn to the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention in exchange for EPA concessions that would improve pesticide and chemical safety measures. While advocates are generally pleased with the outcome of the apparent deal, the irony that deals needed to be made for an agency with protection in its name to do its job is not lost. Under former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, the agency backtracked on provisions put in place during the Obama administration that would update farmworker protections following decades of inaction. Pruitt determined to revisit rules put in place that would require farmworkers be 18 to spray highly toxic pesticides, implement 25 to 100 ft application exclusion zones (AEZ) after pesticide applications, and permit farmworkers to have a designated representative obtain health and safety information on their behalf. These simple, commonsense protections were strongly opposed by the agrichemical […]
Posted in Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Farmworkers, Uncategorized | No Comments »
10
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 10, 2019) The Trump administration is opening the floodgates to allow widespread use of antibiotics in citrus (grapefruits, oranges and tangerines) production, expanding on an emergency use decision it made in 2017. The public has an opportunity to comment on the widespread use of streptomycin by January 19, 2019. You can comment on the federal governmentâs public comment page (regulations.gov) by leaving a comment opposing any additional use of antibiotics in food production during a national and international crisis of deadly disease resistance to antibiotics. You can copy Beyond Pesticidesâ prepared comment below and add your own concerns. Strikingly, the decision allows for up to 480,000 acres of citrus trees in Florida to be treated with more than 650,000 pounds of streptomycin per year, and 23,000 citrus acres in California will likely be treated annually. The two approved antibacterial chemicals to be used as a pesticide in citrus production are streptomycin and oxytetracycline. These uses were permitted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under an emergency exemption in May, 2017, allowing residues of antibiotics in Florida orange juice, for the antibiotics streptomycin and oxytetracycline âallowing their use for a bacterial disease, citrus greening (Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) bacterium that causes Huanglongbing), […]
Posted in Antibacterial, Antibiotic Resistance, California, contamination, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Florida, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Habitat Protection, Increased Vulnerability to Diseases from Chemical Exposure, Resistance, Take Action, Uncategorized, Water | 1 Comment »
09
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 9, 2019) It is news to approximately no one that pollinators are in trouble worldwide. A series of papers by biologists at the University of Guelph, Ontario, posits that pesticide regulations aimed at protection of honey bees fall far short of the critical task of protecting the multitude of bee species that are important pollinators of human food crops. These recent papers arose from 2017 workshops that involved 40 bee researchers from various universities, and representatives from Canadian, U.S., and European regulatory agencies, and from the agrochemical industry. Beset by shrinking habitat, pathogens, and toxic chemical exposures, bee pollinator populations are at great risk, even as ââour dependency on insect-pollinated crops is increasing and will continue to do so as the global population rises,â said [Professor Nigel] Raine, [PhD], [a] co-author of all three papers recently published in the journal Environmental Entomology. . . . Protecting wild pollinators is more important now than ever before. Honeybees alone simply cannot deliver the crop pollination services we need.â There are, in fact, more than 20,000 bee species worldwide, and 3,500â5,000 bee species in North America alone. Although regulators across many countries have focused narrowly on assessing the risk of pesticides to honey bees, many […]
Posted in Pollinators, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
08
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 8, 2019) At the end of December, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) finalized its rule regarding the disclosure of genetically engineered (GE) ingredients in consumer foods. After years of local, state and federal pressure to implement a clear, concise labeling requirement for GE foods, advocates say USDAâs rule is a failure, and a capitulation to agrichemical corporations that promote GE farming systems. According to U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME), speaking with the Portland Press Herald, the new rule is âan insult to consumers.â She said, âThese labels should give people the facts of whether ingredients in their food have been genetically altered, plain and simple.â Rather than the plain and simple language urged by Rep Pingree and other GE labeling advocates, USDA determined to move forward with muddled verbiage that is certain to confuse consumers. GE products will not defined by a term Americans are familiar with, such as GE or GMO. Instead, the term USDA will require on product labels is âbioengineered.â USDA is allowing companies to choose one of the following methods to alert consumers to the presence of GE ingredients in their foods: Inclusion of a âbioengineeredâ or âderived from bioengineeringâ symbol alongside […]
Posted in 2,4-D, Dicamba, Genetic Engineering, Glyphosate, Labeling, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | 1 Comment »
07
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 7, 2019)Â As the dust settles on the final Farm Bill, which passed the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives last month, it is clear that neither the substance nor the process on a range of issues meet the urgent need to address key sustainability issues that put the future in peril. We must not allow this Farm Bill to be the final word on a number of critical environmental issues facing the nation and world. That is why it is absolutely critical that we get to work immediately, with the new Congress, to set a new course that transforms the institutions of government that are holding back the urgently needed transition to a green economy. Tell your Senators and Representative to support a Green New Deal that restructures food and agriculture programs. On the Farm Bill, our victories were mostly measured in terms of what we were able to remove from the Farm Billânot the standard of achievement that we need to face critical environmental threats. Â The good. Our major victory in the Farm Bill does not move us forward, but simply protects the status quo of our democracyâprotecting the power of states and local government to […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Farm Bill, Take Action, Uncategorized | No Comments »
04
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 4, 2019) First, the good news: plaintiffs in a 2013 lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can allow themselves a small victory dance. In that suit, plaintiffs made a number of claims related to EPAâs failure to protect pollinators from dangerous pesticides, its poor oversight of the bee-killing pesticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam, and its practice of âconditional registration,â as well as labeling deficiencies. The parties in the suit negotiated a settlement, as directed by a federal judge (see below), that was signed in October 2018 and portends some positive movement in curtailing the use of some toxic pesticides [12 products, each of which contains chlothianidin or thiamathoxam as an active ingredient] that harm pollinators in particular, as well as other organisms and the environment. It also establishes a public process for EPA to consider requiring whole formulations of pesticide products during registration, and redefining EPA’s interpretation of law that allows seeds treated with bee-toxic pesticides to escape regulation as a pesticide. The suit was brought by a number of individual beekeepers and several organizations, including Beyond Pesticides, Center for Food Safety (CFS), Sierra Club, and Center for Environmental Health, and named as defendants Steven Bradbury, then-director of the […]
Posted in Bayer, Clothianidin, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Litigation, neonicotinoids, Pollinators, Take Action, Thiamethoxam, Uncategorized, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
03
Jan
(Beyond Pesticides, January 3, 2019) Bee-toxic pesticides banned for consumer use by the state of Maryland are still being sold in hardware and garden stores, according to reports from beekeeper and consumer watchdog groups. In 2016, Maryland passed the Pollinator Protection Act, which limited the use of neonicotinoids, insecticides implicated in the global decline of pollinator populations, to only certified applicators. According to spot checks by the Maryland Pesticide Education Network (MPEN) and the Central Maryland Beekeepers Association (CMBA), state enforcement agencies still have a ways to go to ensure retailers are complying with the law. From May to October 2018, six volunteers visited 30 Maryland stores along the Baltimore-Washington corridor to see whether they are complying with the law by removing bee-toxic neonicotinoids from retail consumer sale. Eleven of the 30 stores were not in compliance, ranging from local home and garden stores to national big-box chains. âIâve taken bottles off the shelf and taken them up to an employee or a manager, and said, âYou really need to stop selling this stuff â itâs illegal,ââ said Steve McDaniel, a master beekeeper in Carroll County to the Bay Journal. The state, for its part, indicates that staffing problems at […]
Posted in Maryland, Pollinators, Uncategorized | No Comments »