Pesticide-maker AgLogic has asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to approve use of the pesticide aldicarb on Florida oranges and grapefruit, the Center for Biological Diversity reported. The center, which opposes the approval, says it is dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
The EPA approved a similar aldicarb request in the waning days of the Trump administration, but Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried didn’t allow the substance to be used in the state. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately reversed the Trump EPA’s approval.
The Center for Biological Diversity says aldicarb can impair children’s brain development and has been banned in more than 125 countries.
“It’s awful to see aldicarb’s maker pushing, yet again, to expand its use after farmworker and conservation groups’ efforts prevented an environmental and human health catastrophe,” said Nathan Donley, Center for Biological Diversity environmental health science director. “The EPA doesn’t control what requests the pesticide industry makes, but the agency’s response should be a quick and decisive denial of this application.”
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the EPA and Bayer in 2010 reached an agreement to end U.S. use of aldicarb after the agency found that the pesticide posed unacceptable dietary risks to infants and young children.
The Center for Biological Diversity says approval of aldicarb on citrus in Florida could allow 100,000 acres of citrus to be treated annually with up to 2.5 million pounds of products containing the pesticide.
“The pesticide industry’s latest attempt to bring back aldicarb shows that its rhetoric about transitioning to safer pesticides is hypocritical and craven,” said Donley. “This chemical has been banned in more than 125 countries, but the pesticide industry’s more interested in making a quick buck than doing the right thing.”
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists.
Source: Center for Biological Diversity
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