After the Congressional Research Service (CRS) questioned the validity of agency regulations that had not been submitted as required by law to Congress and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness wrote to House and Senate leaders asking Congress to advise the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that its endocrine disruptor screening program “is not in effect” until the required notice is provided. More information about the CRS report appears in issue 332 of this Update. According to a news source, EPA’s program, mandated under the Food Quality Protection Act, was designed to identify pesticides that might cause adverse effects on human health and the environment. The center, a business-backed think tank, cited the CRS report in making its case to nullify the program. An EPA spokesperson reportedly responded that its action describing the agency’s endocrine disruptor policies and procedures and announcing the list of chemicals to receive testing…
Tag Archives pesticide
The Organic Center, Union for Concerned Scientists and Center for Food Safety have issued a report claiming that U.S. Department of Agriculture data show that the use of weed-killing herbicides on genetically engineered (GE) corn, soybeans and cotton has increased by 383 pounds over a 13-year period ending in 2008. According to the preface to the report, titled “Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use: The First Thirteen Years,” this finding will be “news to the public at large, which still harbors the illusion, fed by misleading industry claims and advertising, that biotechnology crops are reducing pesticide use. Such a claim was valid for the first few years of commercial use of GE corn, soybeans, and cotton. But, as this report shows, it is no longer.” The report contends that widespread adoption of glyphosate-resistant crops “has vastly increased the use of glyphosate herbicide,” which “has spawned a growing epidemic…
A federal court in Florida has refused to enforce a $97 million judgment obtained in a Nicaraguan court by 150 banana plantation workers who alleged that exposure to the pesticide DBCP caused their sterility. Osorio v. Dole Food Co., No. 07-22693 (S.D. Fla., decided October 20, 2009). The plaintiffs sought to enforce the award under a Florida law allowing for the recognition of out-of-country foreign money judgments. Defendants Dole Food Co. and Dow Chemical Co. contended that the Nicaraguan law under which the case was litigated, Special Law 364, violated their due process rights in a number of respects, and the court agreed, finding multiple grounds for non-recognition under the Florida statute. Among other matters, the Nicaraguan law targeted a limited number of defendants, established irrefutable presumptions about causation, restricted defendants’ ability to introduce evidence, required significant financial deposits by defendants even before liability was determined, and granted no right…
“After responding to a radio commercial seeking former banana-plantation workers for a lawsuit against Dole Food Co., Marcos Sergio Medrano thought he might be entitled to some money,” begins this article exploring fraud allegations against lawyers and plaintiffs in banana-pesticide litigation. “He says an American law firm convinced him that a pesticide used on the Dole-operated banana plantation where he had worked years ago had made him sterile. Lawyers for the 49-year-old peasant produced tests that purported to prove it. But DNA testing by Dole revealed that he had fathered three children—something Mr. Medrano says was news to him.” Stecklow writes that Medrano, of Chinandega, Nicaragua, is part of the “sorry fallout from a group of U.S. personal-injury and other lawyers who descended on this small, impoverished city, seeking to recruit thousands of clients and earn up to 40 percent of any awards. Emboldened by a developing-world legal system that…
University of California researchers studying rural residents in California’s Central Valley have apparently found that those drinking water from private wells have a 90 percent higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease if the wells are near fields sprayed with certain pesticides. Nicole Gatto, et al., “Well Water Consumption and Parkinson’s Disease in Rural California,” Environmental Health Perspectives, July 31, 2009. Supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the study estimated potential well water contamination on the basis of agricultural application records for 26 pesticides and involved 368 cases and 341 population controls enrolled in the Parkinson’s Environment and Genes study. The researchers found that people with the disease “were more likely to have consumed private well water, and had consumed it on average 4.3 years longer” than those without the disease. The strongest link to disease was found in areas sprayed with propargite, a pesticide used mostly on…
The Center for Biological Diversity has sent a 60-day notice of intent to sue letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claiming that the agency has failed to take required action under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to further the polar bear’s conservation when making decisions about the use of pesticides and herbicides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). According to the July 8, 2009, letter, the polar bear was designated an endangered species in May 2008, and the ESA requires the EPA to consider protected species when registering pesticides under FIFRA. The center contends that many of the pesticides registered in the United States “are known likely to affect the polar bear” and that EPA has failed to comply with its consultation and review obligations as to more than 35 organophosphates, many of which have apparently been detected in the Arctic. Listed are chlorpyrifos, diazinon, disulfoton,…
A federal court in the District of Columbia has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to produce certain records about the pesticide clothianidin and lists of potentially protected documents to the Natural Resources Defense Council, which sought the information under a Freedom of Information Act Request submitted in July 2008. Natural Resources Defense Council v. EPA, No. 08-1429 (D.D.C., decided June 23, 2009). According to the court, the information related to “the use of the pesticide clothianidin on crops in the United States, EPA’s evaluation of the safety of the pesticide on bees, studies submitted by chemical manufacturers relating to the toxicity of the pesticide to bees, and communications with other federal or foreign agencies regarding environmental risks posed by the pesticide.” The day before the court filed its ruling establishing a schedule for the document production, EPA announced that it had developed a “pollinator protection strategic plan.” The plan, created…
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has reportedly launched an investigation into chemical and packaging lobbyists who allegedly sought to thwart regulation banning the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles, infant food jars and other products. Blumenthal is seeking details about a series of joint trade association meetings held in April and May 2009, during which industry officials purportedly discussed a public relations strategy to counter efforts to regulate BPA. According to Blumenthal, this “apparent campaign” aimed to use “fear tactics, political manipulation, and misleading marketing” to stymie BPA legislation pending in several state and local governments, including Connecticut. The attorney general has also called on the North American Metal Packaging Alliance (NAMPA) and other key stakeholders to denounce these efforts. “Colluding in a campaign of confusion and concealment – potentially endangering children and pregnant women – is appalling and possibly illegal,” Blumenthal was quoted as saying. “We are…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has apparently resurrected a program that tracks pesticide use on food crops. USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts pesticide-use surveys, which reportedly provide the only free, publicly available data on the agricultural chemicals applied to crops. Government agencies, environmental groups and academic scientists use the data to evaluate the human health and environmental risks posed by pesticides, and compare the amount of pesticides applied to genetically engineered (GE) versus conventional crops. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and other groups recently spearheaded a letter-writing campaign urging USDA to restore the program. NASS plans to gather data on pesticide applications to fruit and nut crops in fall 2009. If Congress approves the full funding specified in President Barack Obama’s (D) 2010 budget, the agency will resume data collection for vegetables, major row crops and pesticides applied to crops after harvest. See Food & Environment…
Minnesota and Chicago have reportedly become the first state and municipality to prohibit the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in plastic food and beverage containers intended for children ages 3 or younger. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) recently signed legislation (H.F. 326) that would prohibit the sale of these products in the state as of January 2010, although manufacturers can sell existing stock until early 2011. Citing a failure by federal regulators to address this issue, the Chicago City Council has also approved a similar proposal that would take effect in 2010. Some research has purportedly linked BPA to developmental health problems, breast and prostate cancer in laboratory animals, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) previously ruled that the chemical does not pose any danger to children when consumed in minimal amounts. “The FDA continues to be very slow about taking any action on BPA,” stated Chicago Alderman Manuel…
