These EPA managers are more concerned about getting chemicals and pesticides on the market than protecting the people who are exposed to them.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering a new approval
for a pesticide that would be used 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 suggest that persistent pressure from chemical industry
lobbyists, politicians and political appointees led the agency’s Office of
Pesticide Programs (OPP) to change its position on aldicarb from one that
favored public health to one that critics say instead favored the interests
of a North Carolina-based company called AgLogic that is seeking to expand
sales of the insecticide. The EPA communications were obtained by the
nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity through a Freedom of Information
Act lawsuit and reviewed by The New Lede.
In one 2020 email, for example, 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 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.’”
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