[Pollinator] House, Senate Democrats look to ban 2 pesticide classes

[David Inouye]

  House, Senate Democrats look to ban 2 pesticide classes

Marc Heller <https://www.eenews.net/staff/Marc_Heller>, E&E News reporter

Published: Tuesday, August 4, 2020

A pair of Democratic lawmakers today will propose legislation 
effectively banning two major classes of pesticides and limiting EPA's 
ability to keep other potentially harmful pesticides in use.

Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) are introducing 
companion legislation to cancel the registrations of organophosphates 
and neonicotinoids, classes of chemicals that are used widely on farms 
and that for years have raised objections from environmental and 
consumer groups.

Among the organophosphates is chlorpyrifos, which the Trump 
administration has embraced as a crop treatment following the Obama 
administration's moves to ban the chemical.

Researchers at EPA and elsewhere have linked chlorpyrifos to brain 
damage in children. In 2017, then-Administrator Scott Pruitt reversed 
EPA's move toward a ban as one of his first official actions, saying the 
science wasn't settled but that farmers rely on the pesticide to produce 
a variety of crops.

Udall proposed legislation last year to ban chlorpyrifos (/E&E News PM/ 
<https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/stories/1060132807/>, March 28, 2019). 
Today's proposal goes further by aiming to end the use of related 
pesticides as well as the "neonics," which are effective against a range 
of insects but are also highly toxic to bees if applied when the 
pollinators are active.

The bill touches on several other aspects of pesticide regulations, in 
what Udall's office called the most comprehensive rewrite in 25 years.

In addition to public health concerns, the pesticides in questions have 
implications for farmworkers, a spokeswoman for Udall said. In some 
cases, countries in the European Union and other places have banned 
them. The legislation would help the United States catch up to those 
allies, she said.

A handful of interest groups critical of pesticides support the 
legislation, including the Center for Biological Diversity and United 
Farm Workers of America. The farm workers' union is endorsing the 
legislation's requirement for pesticide-related injuries on farms to be 
reported to EPA, for instance.

In addition to ending the registrations of neonics and organophosphates, 
the legislation would ban the weed killer paraquat, all within six 
months of the bill's passage.

In cases of chronic exposure, paraquat has been shown to increase the 
risk of Parkinson's disease, and it's "one of the most acutely toxic 
herbicides in the world," Udall's office said.

Like some other pesticides, paraquat is used in the United States but 
banned in Europe. To bring the countries into more closely aligned 
policy, the bill would require EPA to temporarily suspend registrations 
of pesticides when the European Union or Canada bans them, and to 
conduct an additional thorough review of potential risks.

EPA also wouldn't be allowed to let farmers use existing stocks of 
pesticides once they're suspended or canceled, reversing a policy that's 
permitted under the federal pesticide law, called the Federal 
Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, or FIFRA.

A similar issue arose recently with the herbicide dicamba, when a 
federal court ordered EPA to take away its registration but allowed 
farmers to use what they have already bought.

Had the court not allowed for existing stocks to be used, more than 60 
million acres of dicamba-tolerant crops already planted for this year 
might have gone without reliable weed control, farm groups said 
(/Greenwire/ <https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1063434649/>, 
June 22).

The FIFRA law calls for periodic reviews of registrations, including 
human and environmental risk assessments. EPA rarely revokes the 
registration of a pesticide, many of which have been studied and in use 
for decades.

But changes to label instructions, including limits on where and how 
pesticides may be used, are common. EPA has taken that approach with 
neonicotinoids to lessen the risks to bees and with chlorpyrifos, which 
is no longer allowed for household use.

Consumer groups see the Trump administration as especially friendly to 
pesticide manufacturers and the farm groups that support them, 
illustrated by Pruitt's decision on chlorpyrifos.

However, farm groups argue they need a wide array of chemical treatments 
to combat the ever-expanding resistance of weeds and insects.

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