{"id":76617,"date":"2020-11-05T16:13:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T16:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/?p=76617"},"modified":"2020-11-05T16:13:00","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T16:13:00","slug":"epa-sued-once-again-putting-corporate-interests-over-public-health-environment-reapproving-herbicide-atrazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/organicconsumers.org\/epa-sued-once-again-putting-corporate-interests-over-public-health-environment-reapproving-herbicide-atrazine\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA Sued for ‘Once Again Putting Corporate Interests Over Public Health or the Environment’ by Reapproving Herbicide Atrazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

“We’re not going to just stand by and watch another generation get poisoned by one of the most dangerous pesticides still in use.”<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

While taking aim at the Trump administration’s broader pesticide agenda<\/a>, a coalition of advocacy groups sued Friday over the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent reauthorization<\/a> of atrazine, which is one of the most widely used <\/a>herbicides in the United States but off limits in dozens<\/a> of countries due to health and safety concerns<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

“If EPA were actually doing its job, this chemical would have been off the market years ago,” declared Kristin Schafer, executive director of Pesticide Action Network (PAN). “The science on atrazine’s harms is so clear that it’s been banned in Europe for more than a decade, yet here in this country EPA is now loosening use restrictions\u2014once again putting corporate interests over public health or the environment.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The agency’s atrazine decision last month “is part of a sweeping effort<\/a> by the EPA in recent months to quickly approve<\/a> numerous extremely controversial and harmful pesticides,” the groups behind the lawsuit\u2014Beyond Pesticides, Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, PAN North America, and Rural Coalition\u2014said in a joint statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Filed in 9th Circuit Court of Appeals just days before crucial U.S. elections, the suit<\/a> (pdf) challenges the EPA’s reapproval of atrazine as well as propazine and simazine, two other pesticides in the triazine class that were part of the same review process.<\/span><\/p>\n

The filing also follows the EPA’s approval<\/a> of three dicamba products on Tuesday. Also vowing to challenge that move, Center for Food Safety legal director George Kimbrell said that “rather than evaluating the significant costs of dicamba drift as the 9th Circuit told them the law required, EPA rushed reapproval as a political prop just before the election, sentencing farmers and the environment to another five years of unacceptable damage.”<\/span><\/p>\n

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More than 70 million people (!!!) have already voted in this hugely consequential election. For those still filling out your ballot, here are resources that may be helpful as you consider where your candidates stand on food & farming issues: https:\/\/t.co\/zSu4G9v0w1<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 PAN North America (@pesticideaction) October 30, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n