The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it is considering approving a pesticide for use on Florida oranges and grapefruits despite the fact that agency scientists have repeatedly found the chemical does not meet safety standards designed to protect children’s health, internal agency records show.
EPA emails indicate how for years, agency scientists have wanted to deny new uses of aldicarb, but appear to have not done so because of persistent pressure from chemical industry lobbyists, politicians and political appointees.
Among other things, the records indicate how, during the Trump administration, the agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs approved the pesticide, moving from a position favoring public health to one that critics say prioritized the interests of a North Carolina-based company called AgLogic that is seeking to expand sales of the insecticide. The EPA’s approval was later rejected by the state of Florida and a federal appeals court.
However, Aldicarb is still being considered for approval by the Biden-era EPA. The EPA communications were obtained by the non-profit Center for Biological Diversity through a Freedom of Information Act (Foia) lawsuit.
Read also: Agora Policy, others to hold dialogue on climate change
Recall that In one email in 2020, an EPA regulatory specialist wrote to AgLogic that while the EPA was not yet able to make a safety finding, the agency has “spent time brainstorming possible solutions”. The emails also show that scientists within the agency appear to have felt they had to defend their concerns about aldicarb as top agency administrators and lawmakers made expanded approval of the chemical a priority.
“What this shows is just how difficult it is for the agency to say no,” said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “They were going to reject it so many times, and [AgLogic] just said, ‘No, no no.’”
Also, the revelations underscore whistleblower complaints made by EPA scientists in 2021 alleging that they have been routinely pressured for years to minimise or remove scientific evidence of the dangers certain chemicals posed to public health.
Since then, the EPA has allowed AgLogic a limited approval to sell aldicarb for use on cotton, dry beans, peanuts, soybeans, sugar beets and sweet potatoes. Those uses have been rare, according to US Geological Survey data.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
