AmericaSpeaks TheVoiceOfJoyce It’s a sad day for Americans when the EPA sides with the pesticide industry and violates a Court Order asking for Monsanto, BASF & other producers to stop using dicamba, a toxic herbicide. The EPA should set the fees for investigating the Chemical and Fossil Fuel Industries and negotiate with Industries they’re regulating. No wonder regulatory agencies are no longer feared. They’re not independent of industry, they’re understaffed and underpaid? We should be rethinking government governance and take Corporate Welfare out of the equation. Let’s stop harming American citizens. In the 1970-80’ s, I worked for Pfizer and we were terrified of the FDA. When did the regulatory rules change?

Posted on by jaslvr

www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/24/epa-monsanto-toxic-herbicides-dicamba

The US Environmental Protection Agency has in effect ignored a 2020 federal court order prohibiting the use of Monsanto and other producers’ toxic dicamba-based herbicides that are destroying millions of acres of cropland, harming endangered species and increasing cancer risks for farmers, new fillings in the lawsuit charge.

Instead of permanently yanking the products from the market after the 2020 order, the EPA only required industry to add further application instructions to the herbicides’ labels before reapproving the products.

A late 2021 EPA investigation found the same problems persist even with new directions added to the label, but the agency still allows Monsanto, BASF and other producers to continue using dicamba.

“The new litigation was prompted by the EPA’s decision to ignore the court’s ruling and move forward with reapproving the pesticide,” plaintiffs in the lawsuit wrote in a statement. “In re-approving dicamba, the EPA once again failed to weigh the true costs to farmers and the environment.”

The fillings are a continuation of the 2020 lawsuit, which was brought by the National Family Farm Coalition, Center for Food Safety, Center for Biological Diversity and Pesticide Action Network North America. The groups are asking the court to again order the EPA to rescind approval of the controversial products.

The EPA’s move is another example of the agency “treating the pesticide industry not as regulated companies, but as clients”, said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director with the Center For Biological Diversity.

The EPA’s pesticide office is included in allegations that career managers are influenced by or have colluded with industry, and in some cases falsified science to make dangerous substances appear less toxic. About one-third of the pesticide office’s funding comes from industry fees.

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