{"id":38910,"date":"2025-07-04T00:01:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T04:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=38910"},"modified":"2025-07-04T07:49:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T11:49:02","slug":"life-liberty-and-the-pursuit-of-happiness-foundational-to-independence-day-and-protection-of-health-and-the-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2025\/07\/life-liberty-and-the-pursuit-of-happiness-foundational-to-independence-day-and-protection-of-health-and-the-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Protecting Health and the Environment This Independence Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, 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 \u201ccertain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.\u201d 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<\/a> of The Federalist Papers <\/em>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<\/a> speaks to the danger that factions\u2014defined as a group of people or entities \u201c… who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community\u201d\u2014impose on the general public, if not checked by safeguards in the country\u2019s political system.<\/p>\n

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:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The illegal rollback of federal and state laws, as well as funding programs allocated by Congress, amounts to violations of the Constitution on multiple grounds and an abuse of environmental justice principles;<\/li>\n
  2. The preemption of state and local authority that threatens local democratic decision-making continues to be weighed out in Congress, including through the Food Security and Farm Protection Act, <\/em>previously the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression <\/em>(EATS) Act<\/em>;<\/li>\n
  3. The continuous attacks on the right of cancer patients to hold pesticide manufacturers accountable through failure-to-warn claims, which amounts to infringement on the democratic right to access the judicial branch of the government and to hold bad actor corporations accountable in the courts; and<\/li>\n
  4. The undermining of First Amendment rights to have a public debate on independent scientific findings on the adverse effects of consumer products.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Altogether, \u201cmoneyed\u201d interests, such as the fossil fuel sector, pesticide and fertilizer manufacturers, industrial agriculture, and their political allies, continue to weaponize the three branches of government and undermine the distribution of powers between local, state, and federal governments (principle of federalism). Environmental advocates maintain that economic interests must not harm the public good, but should prioritize investments and regulations to protect and regenerate clean water, air, soil, and ecosystems through organic systems.<\/p>\n

    Attacks on Environmental Justice<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Beyond Pesticides was founded in 1981 in the spirit of environmental and agricultural justice<\/a>. The organization\u2019s founders walked through agricultural areas in Florida, Texas, and California in the late 1970s, speaking with farmworkers about their sicknesses and miscarriage rates, and the lack of training, protective equipment, clean drinking water, and sanitation in the fields. They witnessed the profound failure of the marketplace and the regulatory system to protect the lives and well-being of farmworkers and their families\u2014including the lives of young children who, on a typical day, lived with poisoned air, water, and food on the edges of treated fields.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    In this spirit, Beyond Pesticides works with communities across the country to transition their neighborhoods\u2014specifically public parks, green spaces, and playing fields\u2014to organically-managed, pesticide-free spaces. We have worked with roughly 26 states across dozens of cities and towns across the country over the course of the Parks for a Sustainable Future Program. (See here<\/a> for a map highlighting our impact.) Amid attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and environmental justice funding, we believe that it is a critical concern to ensure that public spaces are toxic-free, considering the disproportionate risks that parents and children\u2014particularly in BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities\u2014face daily. See <\/em>here<\/em><\/a> to learn more about the Sustainable Parks program.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Beyond Pesticides has called out the illegal federal funding cuts and urged Congress to restore funds for various programs that disproportionately impact the working class, fenceline, frontline, and communities of color nationwide. Impacted programs that aim to protect essential workers in the food and agriculture sector include the Biological Center for Research on Children\u2019s Health project and the Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risks (SENSOR) Program. See <\/em>here<\/em><\/a> to take action.<\/em><\/p>\n

    The Bioecological Center for Research on Children\u2019s Health project, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was designed to identify, understand and address the cumulative impacts of exposures to environmental toxicants (pesticides, heavy metals, particulate matter) and nonchemical psychosocial stressors (poverty, food insecurity, trauma, discrimination, etc.)\u202f on the health, development, and growth of farmworker children. Working in collaboration with the Florida State University (FSU) health clinic in Immokalee, the project would have examined threats, implemented strategies to improve health outcomes for farmworker children, and collaboratively established a Center in Immokalee, Florida to continue the research, outreach, and services to the community.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

    The SENSOR program, funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), monitors pesticide-related incidents of injuries, illnesses, and deaths at the state level, tracking worker pesticide exposure incidents. By providing technical support to state health agencies to train medical professionals on how to diagnose and treat pesticide poisonings, SENSOR strengthens the network of health experts who can help advise farmworkers, pesticide applicators, parents, and others to prevent harm from pesticides, often with disproportionate adverse effects in people of color communities.<\/p>\n

    These are two of the countless initiatives, research centers, and other federal programs that are in jeopardy due to the current administration\u2019s wrecking-ball approach to operating regulatory systems meant to protect, not undermine, public well-being.<\/p>\n

    Pesticide Preemption<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    As Congress amends and comes to a consensus on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act<\/em><\/a>, hundreds of organizations representing the interests of farmers, rural communities, farmworkers, conservationists, environmentalists, and public interest continue to oppose preemption language in the\u00a0Agricultural Labeling Uniformity Act\u00a0<\/em>(not yet re-introduced in the 119th<\/sup> Congress) or\u00a0EATS Act\u00a0<\/em>(re-introduced as the\u00a0Food Security and Farm Protection Act<\/em><\/a> on April 8). As of today\u2019s publication, it is expected that industry-backed amendments will be included in upcoming legislation, including provisions on federal preemption of state and local environmental and public health laws, and a prohibition on failure-to-warn cases against chemical manufacturers whose products cause harm.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

    Pesticide manufacturers, including Bayer-Monsanto, have been ramping up their federal lobbying efforts after failing to pass state legislation in nine of the twelve states to immunize them from failure-to-warn litigation. See section below for further information on failure-to-warn claims and related legislation<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Language establishing chemical company immunity from \u201cfailure-to-warn\u201d litigation and local and state authority to restrict pesticides more stringently than the EPA was included in the 2024 Republican Farm Bill draft, as well as failed attempts to include it in the House Interior Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2025, escalating the fight over federal preemption of state and local standards and protective authority of the courts. The Senate GOP framework includes preemption of state and local governance of pesticides, food systems, and production, and public health in Title X, Horticulture title: \u201cRestates and reaffirms [EPA\u2019s] obligation with respect to the federal and state regulatory process.\u201d Moreover, Title XII, Miscellaneous states: \u201cProtects the ability of livestock producers to raise and sell products into interstate commerce without interference from other states.\u201d More specifically, this language would have a two-fold impact:<\/p>\n