Search Results
Tuesday, September 16th, 2025
(Beyond Pesticides, September 16, 2025) As reported in the Daily News on August 28, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it âwill hold a public webinar [today], September 16, 2025, at 2:00 PM ET to provide information on the ecological runoff/erosion and spray drift mitigation measures that can be used to protect endangered species from pesticides.â This follows closely behind an earlier announcement of a newly released Pesticide App for Label Mitigations (PALM) mobile tool to assist in implementing these mitigation measures. Despite boasting that the PALM tool is a âone-stop shopâ for farmers to use EPAâs mitigation menu, which the agency claims helps to protect nontarget species, environmental critics say that self-directed mitigation without a rigorous reporting and enforcement apparatus fails to meet the level of protection that is necessary under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). As Beyond Pesticides has often reported, mitigation measures are not enforced through recordkeeping, inspections, and certification, and require no accountability from farmers and pesticide applicators. At the same time, EPA assumes compliance with mitigation measures as the basis for meeting statutory standards of reasonable risk from harmful chemicals, despite documented health and environmental harm. As a Daily News article earlier this […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), Announcements, Biodiversity, Climate, Endangered Species Act (ESA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Federal Insecticide, NOSB National Organic Standards Board, Pesticide Regulation, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
Thursday, August 28th, 2025
(Beyond Pesticides, August 28, 2025) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on August 12, 2025, released a statement, âEPA Announces Action to Protect Endangered Species from Insecticide Methomyl,â in which the agency announced label changes for methomyl, a carbamate insecticide, with mitigation measures that are being criticized as allowing great risks to biodiversity and human health. The label changes, following the National Marine Fisheries Serviceâs (NMFS) final biological opinion issued on January 1, 2024, actually establish mitigation measures to be determined by applicators using the Bulletins Live! Two website prior to use. EPA claims that this grower determined action will meet the standards of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by âreduc[ing] runoff and spray drift from treated areas into speciesâ habitats.â However, the process does not include monitoring and oversight to determine whether the rigorous standards of ESA are being met. The agency says that mitigation tracking is âat the field or farm level,â but it is not required to be submitted to the agency. EPA announced on August 20 that it is holding a 90-minute public webinar on September 16, 2025, at 2:00 PM ET to provide information on the ecological runoff/erosion and spray drift mitigation measures that can […]
Posted in Agriculture, Aquatic Organisms, Biodiversity, Carbamates, Cardiovascular Disease, Drinking Water, Endangered Species Act (ESA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Methomyl, Oxidative Stress, Pesticide Regulation, Water, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 31st, 2025
(Beyond Pesticides, July 31, 2025) A study published in Environmental Advances finds that hundreds of honeybee hives across central and northern Italy are contaminated with various pesticides and their metabolites, including glyphosate and fosetyl. âThere was no significant difference in glyphosate presence between dead/dying and live bees, suggesting chronic exposure rather than acute toxicity. However, higher pesticide concentrations in dead/dying bees indicate potential sublethal effects contributing to colony distress,â according to the authors. This peer-reviewed study builds on the mounting evidence outlined in the literature connecting pesticide residues to nontarget harm to pollinators and other insects and animals that are critical to biodiversity. Background and Methodology âThe primary objectives of this study were to develop and validate a reliable, sensitive method for analyzing polar pesticides [highly soluble in water] in honeybees and to investigate polar pesticides residue levels in honeybees across northern and central Italy,â say the researchers of this study, who conduct research at the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Lombardy and Emilia Romagna âBruno Ubertini”, Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Umbria and Marche âTogo Rosatiâ, and Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Lazio and Tuscany “M. Aleandri.” 314 honeybee samples were gathered voluntarily from local beekeepers in six regions of northern and […]
Posted in Chemical Mixtures, Chemicals, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), glufosinate, Glyphosate, International, Persistence, Poisoning, Pollinators, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, July 28th, 2025
(Beyond Pesticides, July 28, 2025) As the problem of antimicrobial-resistant infections continues to escalate to pandemic proportions, Beyond Pesticides is again calling on Congress and the federal government to urgently start to eliminate the use of pesticides that contribute to antibiotic resistance. While data accumulates on antimicrobial resistance, including Daily News reporting of yet another study in June in Environmental Geochemistry and Health, the 79th United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistance (September 2024) points to  nearly five million deaths in 2019 from antibiotic-resistant microbial infections and $1 trillion in annual health care costs per year by 2050 globally. According to the UNâs political declaration, â[G]lobally, antimicrobial resistance could result in US$ 1 trillion of additional health-care costs per year by 2050 and US$ 1 trillion to 3.4 trillion of gross domestic product losses per year by 2030, and that treating drug-resistant bacterial infections alone could cost up to US$ 412 billion annually, coupled with workforce participation and productivity losses of US$ 443 billion, with antimicrobial resistance predicted to cause an 11 per cent decline in livestock production in low-income countries by 2050.â These findings grow out of â[G]eneral Assembly resolution 78/269, to review progress on global, regional and […]
Posted in Agriculture, Antibiotic Resistance, Antimicrobial, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Pesticide Regulation, Take Action, Uncategorized, United Nations | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2025
(Beyond Pesticides, July 17, 2025) The widespread use of pesticides year-after-year, decade-after-decade, has been found to lead to unintended consequences not only for public health but also for broader ecosystem stability and biodiversity. These impacts include potential nontarget harm through adverse developmental and reproductive effects on the vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster, the subject of a peer-reviewed study in Royal Society Open Science. The authors, who studied the organochlorine fungicide chlorothalonil, conclude, âChlorothalonil exposure decreases larval survival, extends developmental duration and reduces fecundity.â âEven at the lowest tested concentration, chlorothalonil exposure resulted in reduced body weight, ovariole count and egg production compared with non-exposed individuals,â the researchers find. This study builds upon years of scientific research findings and critiques of existing federal pesticide law, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencyâs (EPA) failure to fully assess the adverse impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem stability during the pesticide registration review process. Methodology and Background The goal of this study is to evaluate the health impacts on a nontarget insect species (Drosophila melanogaster) from chronic exposure to chlorothalonil. This specific fungicide was chosen for various reasons, including its wide use across cereals, vegetables, and fruits; evidence linked to adverse health effects on […]
Posted in Biodiversity, Chlorothalonil, Drift, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Fungicides, Pesticide Drift, Pollinators, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 16th, 2025
(Beyond Pesticides, July 16, 2025) A study following a mass mortality event of approximately 200 monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus plexippus) in Pacific Grove, California, highlights the role of pesticides, synthetic pyrethroids in particular, in causing lethal and sublethal effects to nontarget organisms. The research, published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, detects residues of 15 pesticides and associated metabolites in the bodies of 10 deceased butterflies collected from the January 2024 event that occurred near an overwintering site frequented by monarchs. âOn average, each monarch butterfly contained 7 pesticides,â the authors report. They continue, âNotably, three pyrethroid insecticidesâbifenthrin, cypermethrin, and permethrinâwere consistently detected at or near each chemicalâs lethal dose (LD50).â LC50, or Lethal Concentration 50, values represent the concentrations of chemicals lethal to 50% of a test population. To assess pesticide residues within ten of the deceased butterflies, the researchers use liquid and gas chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS) and find âa total of 15 pesticides and associated metabolites in the butterflies, including 8 insecticides (plus 1 associated metabolite), 2 herbicides (plus 2 associated metabolites), and 2 fungicides.â The study âpresent[s] evidence that the mortality incident at the Pacific Grove Monarch overwintering site was likely caused by […]
Posted in Beneficials, Bifenthrin, Biodiversity, California, cypermethrin, Death, Ecosystem Services, Metabolites, Permethrin, Pesticide Residues, Poisoning, Pollinators, pyrethroids, synergistic effects, Synthetic Pyrethroid, Synthetic Pyrethroids, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, July 9th, 2025
(Beyond Pesticides, July 9, 2025) Policymakers in Tanzania are calling for increased investments in organic agriculture for the 2025/26 fiscal year budget, demonstrating the increase in political will to advance new systems of farming and land management after decades of relying on Green Revolution-style, or chemical-intensive, policies. On June 20, various ministers representing the national government presented speeches to Parliament on the national governmentâs plan and budget recommendations, as well as highlighting the previous fiscal yearâs trends and use of funds. Â Political and popular support for organic agricultural systems has gained momentum across the globe. Worldwide, organic farming practices quadrupled from 2000 to 2018, with over 180 countries supporting a global transition to organic agriculture. Newly published global survey data by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements â Organics International (IFOAM) reveal global organic agriculture to be at an all-time high, with 71.5 million hectares of farmland in production as of 2020. (See Daily News here). Farmer and agricultural cooperatives around the world, from Brazil to Madagascar and Togo, leverage organic systems to develop competitive business models in regional, national, and international markets. (See Daily News here.) The European Union, with […]
Posted in Agriculture, Aldrin, Chemical Mixtures, Chlordane, Chlorpyrifos, DDT, Dieldrin, Endosulfan, Heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), International, lambda-cyhalothrin, organochlorines, Tanzania, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, June 23rd, 2025
(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 »
Wednesday, June 18th, 2025
(Beyond Pesticides, June 18, 2025) A major artificial turf manufacturerâs effort to block a webinar about the hazards of synthetic turf has triggered a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against it. That suit, filed in Nassau County, New York, accuses the Polyloom Corporation of America of having engaged in an illegal Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) for trying to block the turf webinar by the non-profit Grassroots Environmental Education, featuring a presentation by a scientist from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The webinar, slated for January 23, 2025, entitled âThe Trouble with Turf,â was intended to discuss potential adverse health risks of artificial turf, including the fact that most artificial grass blades contain toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The session and material did not mention Polyloom Corporation, which self-describes as âone of the largest designers, producers, recyclers, manufacturers and installers of artificial turf in the United States.â Three days before the webinar, Polyloom filed both a complaint and an application for a Temporary Restraining Order, preliminary injunction, and monetary damages against Grassroots, the webinar sponsor, and all the individuals slated to speak in it who were sued in their individual capacities. Polyloomâs action was filed in the U.S. District Court for […]
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, June 16th, 2025
***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, […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Announcements, Bats, Biodiversity, Birds, Children, Children/Schools, Climate, Congress, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Events, Farmworkers, Habitat Protection, Holidays, Parks, Parks for a Sustainable Future, Pollinators, Reflection, Seasonal, Take Action, Uncategorized, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 26th, 2025
(Beyond Pesticides, March 26, 2025) State legislation to quash lawsuits against chemical manufacturers because of their âfailure to warnâ about the hazards of their pesticide products is moving forward in seven state legislatures (Iowa, Missouri, Idaho, Florida, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Oklahoma) across the United States. After three bills failed to pass (Mississippi, Wyoming, and Montana) and one bill is awaiting signature into law by the Governorâs Office (Georgia), Beyond Pesticides, working with a broad coalition, is pushing back. (See Beyond Pesticidesâ Failure to Warn resource hub, background materials, and opportunities for action.) If adopted, the âimmunity from litigationâ legislation would set a dangerous precedent for state common law claims against any manufacturers of products with toxic ingredients. Currently, pesticide labels under federal and state law generally do not warn of potential chronic effects, such as cancer, reproductive effects, infertility, birth defects, Alzheimerâs and Parkinsonâs disease, diabetes, cardiovascular damage, and more (see Pesticide-Induced Diseases Database), but warn of acute effects, such as rashes, headaches, stinging eyes, and more. After years of large jury awards, preemptive settlements, and lost appeals in cases involving exposure to the weedkiller glyphosate, Bayer/Monsanto is trying to stop the companyâs financial hemorrhaging with a state-by-state strategy […]
Posted in BASF, Bayer, Corporations, Corteva, Failure to Warn, Monsanto, Preemption, Syngenta, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 5th, 2025
(Beyond Pesticides, February 5, 2025) A study in PLOS One finds acute and chronic impacts of nontarget toxicity on the American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus, with neonicotinoid insecticide exposure. In assessing environmentally relevant concentrations of the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid with N. americanus, the researchers note both mortality and behavioral effects that leave the species at high risk of predation. These effects mean the American burying beetle âmay be at greater risk to insecticide exposure than previously thought and vulnerable to episodic, low-dose neonicotinoid exposure,â the authors say. This data sheds important light on a species that has been listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as threatened. Burying beetles provide important ecosystem services within the environment such as âburying carrion, increasing available nutrients in soil, and expediting carrion decomposition, while acting as a food source for secondary consumers,â the researchers state. (See more on ecosystem services and beneficial insects here, here, and here.) The N. americanus species are habitat generalists and can be found in grasslands, wet meadows, and forested areas that neighbor agricultural lands and introduce the beetles to pesticide drift and soil residues. While acute and chronic effects vary in duration and severity, pesticide exposure resulting […]
Posted in behavioral and cognitive effects, Beneficials, Death, Ecosystem Services, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Imidacloprid, Pesticide Drift, Pesticide Residues, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | 1 Comment »
Monday, January 27th, 2025
(Beyond Pesticides, January 27, 2025) A public comment period ends today, January 27, 2025, on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) proposed critical habitat rule to protect the rusty patched bumble bee under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This proposal is responsive to the agency’s 2024 stipulated settlement agreement resulting from years of advocacy and government review and a 2023 court order (NRDC et al. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, et al.). The proposal follows a 2017 determination by the agency that lists the bumble bee as an endangered species. (See previous Daily News here, here, here, here, and here.) >> Tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to fully protect the endangered rusty patched bumble bee by finalizing its proposed critical habitat rule with strengthening provisions. The FWS proposal grows out of a species status assessment (SSA) conducted by â15 scientists with expertise in bumble bee biology, habitat management, and stressors (factors negatively affecting the species).â University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign insect ecologist Jason Robinson, PhD concludes in his paper, âProject-specific bumble bee habitat quality assessment,â âAs the first social insect listed under the ESA, the listing of RPBB has required new methods for biological assessment. This species has a complex life cycle requiring a mosaic of different habitat types, […]
Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Pollinators, Uncategorized, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | 4 Comments »
Monday, January 13th, 2025
(Beyond Pesticides, January 13, 2025) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is officially taking comments on whether to issue new restrictions on the herbicide atrazineâs use. Beyond Pesticides is telling the agency that it is time to recognize the biodiversity destruction that atrazine is causing and the viability of alternative organic management practices. The group has released an action and is asking the public to join this campaign to ban atrazine. As a yardstick for what is possible under existing federal pesticide law (the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act), EPA on August 7, 2024 announced that it was taking emergency action to ban the weed killer Dacthal (or DCPA–dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate), leaving many people asking, âWhy Dacthal and not other very hazardous pesticides?â The weed killer atrazine (in the triazine chemical family) poses similar elevated hazards to people and the environment, has proven to be impossible to contain, and has viable alternatives. Therefore, we need to challenge EPA to apply the same standard that removed Dacthal from the market to the long list of pesticides that are contributing to a health crisis, biodiversity collapse, and the climate emergency. In its current proposal, EPA is choosing to downplay atrazine’s risk to ecosystems, allow more contamination with […]
Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
Wednesday, January 8th, 2025
(Beyond Pesticides, January 8, 2025) On the brink of the second Trump administration, a legal victory just last month overturned a rule issued under the first Trump administration to âpractically eliminate oversight of novel GE technology and instead let industry self-regulate,â as characterized by the Center for Food Safety (CFS). CFS served as counsel in the case for the plaintiffs, led by the National Family Farm Coalition. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California decision, responding to the lawsuit filed in 2021 on behalf of farm and environmental groups, remanded the case back to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with instructions to follow. âThis is a critical victory on behalf of farmers, the planet, and scientific integrity,” says George Kimbrell, legal director at the Center for Food Safety, also a plaintiff in the case. Mr. Kimbrell continued, “USDA tried to hand over its job to Monsanto and the pesticide industry and the Court held that capitulation contrary to both law and science.” It remains to be seen whether the incoming Trump administration will appeal this court decision. Unpacking The Center for Food Safety Litigation This legal battle began in 2004 with the Animal and Plant Health […]
Posted in Contamination, Federal Agencies, Genetic Engineering, Labeling, Litigation, Monsanto, Plant Incorporated Protectants, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) | No Comments »
Monday, December 23rd, 2024
(Beyond Pesticides, December 23, 2024)Â As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS) proposes to list the Monarch butterfly as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, a look at the factors contributing to the butterflyâs catastrophic decline includes a stunning failure of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencyâs (EPA) regulation of pesticides to protect biodiversity and the ecosystems necessary to its survival. While there are many factors affecting the survival of Monarchs, EPAâs Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) has allowed pesticide use to continue unabated, with only rhetorical attention to the problem. Meanwhile, the science shows a range of pesticide effects associated with insecticides and herbicides. A study published in PLOS One in June identifies insecticides as the primary driver in butterflyâs decline, as EPA points, almost exclusively to herbicide use and the destruction of Monarchsâ food source, milkweed habitat. While two or several factors can be true at the same time, EPA has failed to consider the confluence of factors, including the impacts of climate, as rising temperatures are exacerbated by the production and use of petrochemical pesticides. FWS is stepping in at a critical time with looming biodiversity collapse and in the absence of EPA taking the reins […]
Posted in Agriculture, Biodiversity, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Pollinators, Take Action, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Friday, December 20th, 2024
Image: Art Page submission from Carol Moyer, “Monarch Butterfly Sideways with Closed Wings.“ (Beyond Pesticides, December 20, 2024) On December 12, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) opened a public comment period on its proposal to list the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) as a threatened species and to designate critical habitats for the species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Under the proposal, the designated habitats would span approximately 4,395 acres throughout overwintering sites in coastal California. The public comment period will be open until March 12, 2025. These suggested protections call attention to the role of chemical-intensive agriculture in affecting populations of pollinators and other beneficial organisms. George Kimbrell, legal director at the Center for Food Safety, shares in a press release that the âmonarch listing decision is a landmark victory 10 years in the making. It is also a damning precedent, revealing the driving role of pesticides and industrial agriculture in the ongoing extinction crisis… But the job isnât done: Monarchs still face an onslaught of pesticides. The Service must do what science and the law require and promptly finalize protection for monarchs.â In the docket, FWS states, âUnder the Act, a species warrants listing if […]
Posted in Beneficials, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecosystem Services, Endangered Species Act (ESA), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Habitat Protection, Pollinators, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | 1 Comment »
Friday, December 13th, 2024
(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 »
Wednesday, October 23rd, 2024
(Beyond Pesticides, October 23, 2024) The stark contrast of two political parties emerged around this summerâs reporting of the Project 2025 blueprintâcreated by extreme right-wing conservativesâthat proposes the gutting of environmental and public health policy and implementation. Many political observers say “Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project,” formally titled “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” will be embraced by a second Trump Administration, despite denials that are challenged by insiders as outright lies. While the public became aware of Project 2025 plans to gut the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and many other agencies, the Biden Administration was announcing the emergency ban (see also August 6 announcement), finalized yesterday, of the weed killer Dacthal, exercising an EPA authority that has not been used in 45 years since the banning of 2,4,5-T (50% of the mixture of Agent Orange). With this decision, EPA set an important precedent for proclaiming (i) an unacceptable harm, (ii) its inability to mitigate the pesticideâs hazards with typical risk mitigation measures, and (iii) the availability of alternatives that made the chemical unnecessary. In dramatic contrast, the Trump supporters behind Project 2025 are intent on politicizing science to undermine governmental structures and laws established to protect public health […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Department of Interior, Endangered Species Act (ESA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Environmental Policy Act, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
Monday, August 26th, 2024
(Beyond Pesticides, August 26, 2024)Â In July, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it was raising the allowable levels of the highly toxic weed killer atrazine in the nationâs waterways from the 2016 level of 3.4 to 9.7 micrograms per liter (Âľg/L), which scientists and environmental advocates say is a serious threat to aquatic plants, fish, invertebrates, and amphibians, in addition to people who recreate in waterways or eat food from them. With EPAâs August 7 decision to ban the weed killer Dacthal (or DCPA–dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate), Beyond Pesticides is rallying public support for the removal of atrazine from the market under the same standards of harm, inability to mitigate hazards, and the availability of alternatives. As Beyond Pesticides points out in its 2022 atrazine comments (2020 and 2016 comments included) to EPA, the agency in November 2021 released the final Biological Evaluation (BE) assessing risks to listed species from labeled uses of atrazine (in the triazine chemical family). The agency made âlikely to adversely affect (LAA) determinationsâ for 1,013 species and 328 critical habitats, which it is now rejecting, while using a âcommunity-equivalent level of concern (CE-LOC)â measure that is filled with uncertainty and lacks any sense of precaution with […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Atrazine, dacthal, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Herbicides, Lawns/Landscapes, Syngenta, Take Action, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, August 12th, 2024
(Beyond Pesticides, August 12, 2024)Â Â When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an emergency ban of the weed killer Dacthal (DCPA) last week, it said that there are no âpracticable mitigation measuresâ to protect against identified hazardsâa clear and honest assessment of the limits of pesticide product label changes and use restrictions. Now, the question is whether the same thinking can be applied across the EPA’s pesticide program, addressing the urgent need to protect biodiversity. In the Dacthal proclamation, EPA said it consulted with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on âalternatives to this pesticide,â and presumably determined that there were âalternative chemicalsâ that could be used in chemical-intensive agricultureâwhile not considering âalternatives to chemicals.â This is the framework that is understood to be EPAâs process that keeps pest management on a pesticide treadmill except in extremely rare cases (this being the second in nearly 40 years). It is also the framework that has led to catastrophic events or existential crises on biodiversity collapse, health threats, and the climate emergency. On biodiversity, the mix of diverse and intricate relationships of organisms in nature that are essential to the sustaining of life, EPAâs pesticide program, the Office of Pesticide Programs, has […]
Posted in Agriculture, Alternatives/Organics, Biodiversity, dacthal, Endangered Species Act (ESA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Take Action, Uncategorized, US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | No Comments »
Monday, August 5th, 2024
(Beyond Pesticides, August 5, 2024) As the longstanding problem of involuntary pesticide exposure through chemical drift continues unabated, EPA announced ânew, earlier protectionsâ that are being criticized by Beyond Pesticides as inadequate. The organization is calling on the public to let EPA and Congress know that it must comprehensively eliminate nontarget chemical trespass. Beyond Pesticides notes that the recent EPA announcement does not stop the movement of pesticides off the target sites restricted by pesticide product labels and therefore does not protect the public and environment in agricultural, rural, suburban, and urban areas from resulting health and ecological threats. EPAâs July 15, 2024, press release, âEPA Announces New, Earlier Protections for People from Pesticide Spray Driftâ states, âThe Agency is not making any changes to its chemical-specific methodology outlined in the 2014 document but has decided to extend the chemical-specific spray drift methodology to certain registration actions.” Although EPA should evaluate every pesticide use for its drift potential, extension of an inadequate process does not constitute âprotection.â >> Tell EPA and Congress that EPA must protect against all forms of pesticide drift. Pesticide driftâmore properly designated âchemical trespassââis a threat to people living in agricultural, rural, suburban, and urban areas, […]
Posted in Agriculture, Drift, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Take Action, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, July 30th, 2024
(Beyond Pesticides, July 30, 2024) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on July 15 what it described as a new process for evaluating the risks of spray driftâthe migration of pesticides from their target area to off-site zones. According to a statement by EPA Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Assistant Administrator Michal Freedhoff, PhD in an Oregon Public Broadcasting story, the agency took the step so that âpeople donât have to wait years for the protections they deserve and need.â However, EPA states, âThe Agency is not making any changes to its chemical-specific methodology outlined in [its] 2014 document but has decided to extend the chemical-specific spray drift methodology to certain registration actions.” EPA has said, âSpray drift is governed by a variety of factors which govern how much of the pesticide application deposits on surfaces where contact with residues can eventually lead to indirect exposures (e.g., children playing on lawns that are next to treated fields and where residues have deposited).â The new policy will add spray drift evaluation to occasions when the agency receives an application for a new pesticide and when a registered pesticide is intended for a new use or applied to a new crop. […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Drift, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Uncategorized | No Comments »