This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
Turn to the nation's most objective and informative daily environmental news resource to learn how the United States and key players around the world are responding to the environmental...
Three commonly used pesticides are responsible for endangering dozens of vulnerable marine species, a recently released federal report finds.
The National Marine Fisheries Service sent the report, or “biological opinion,” to the Environmental Protection Agency after backtracking on a request to delay it by two years. The legal organization Earthjustice released the report Jan. 9.
The EPA, the agency that licenses and regulates pesticide use, must now put protective measures in place within one year, Patti Goldman, an attorney for Earthjustice in Seattle who represented the Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides in the litigation, told Bloomberg Environment.
Justice Department attorneys representing the fisheries agency withdrew the motion for a delay after sending the final biological opinion two days before a court-ordered Dec. 31, 2017, deadline. The agency told the court in November that it would need until 2019 to complete an evaluation of the pesticides’ effects on threatened and endangered salmon due to the complexity of the task.
Yet the agency was able to complete the biological opinion without needing those two extra years, making the November request moot. The Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides, which has pushed the federal government to release the report, applauded the move.
“The federal government had to take a step back. They really didn’t have a case here,” Sharon Selvaggio, water and wildlife program director with the center, told Bloomberg Environment.
The 3,400-page opinion, a step in the process of establishing protection to rare species under the Endangered Species Act, found that three common pesticides—chlorpyrifos, malathion, and diazinon—are likely to jeopardize the survival and recovery of 38 threatened or endangered salmon and orca whales and negatively affect 37 critical habitats.
Chlorpyrifos, the most common of the three pesticides, was developed by Dow Agrosciences, which merged with Dupont last summer to become DowDupont Inc.
CropLife America, the trade association representing the agricultural pesticide industry, said in a statement that the organization is reviewing the biological opinion. CropLife has argued in court in favor of the two-year extension.
The document “has the potential to create exaggerated and unfounded concerns regarding threatened and endangered species and have a negative impact on farmers, as well as public health protection,” CropLife spokeswoman Genevieve O’Sullivan said in the statement.
Specifically, the report finds that chlorpyrifos and malathion are likely to jeopardize the continued existence of 38 of the 77 species listed under the act and adversely affect 37 of the 50 designated critical habitats. Diazinon, a less-used pesticide, affects 25 of the 77 listed species and negatively modifies 18 of the 50 designated critical habitats.
There is some flexibility in how the EPA can impose protections, Goldman said. “What isn’t flexible is allowing these pesticides to be used in a way that can wipe out endangered salmon and orca whales.”
The three pesticides kill bugs by overstimulating their nervous systems. Millions of pounds of the three are sprayed in fields each year, and their common chemistry—dating back to the 1950s and 1960s—has detrimental effects for human health and the environment.
The EPA denied a petition last year to restrict agricultural uses of chlorpyrifos, which has been linked to neurodevelopmental delays, rejecting a proposal from the Obama administration to do so.
The case is Northwest Ctr. for Alternatives to Pesticides v. NMFS,, W.D. Wash., No. 07-cv-01791, 12/29/17.
All Bloomberg BNA treatises are available on standing order, which ensures you will always receive the most current edition of the book or supplement of the title you have ordered from Bloomberg BNA’s book division. As soon as a new supplement or edition is published (usually annually) for a title you’ve previously purchased and requested to be placed on standing order, we’ll ship it to you to review for 30 days without any obligation. During this period, you can either (a) honor the invoice and receive a 5% discount (in addition to any other discounts you may qualify for) off the then-current price of the update, plus shipping and handling or (b) return the book(s), in which case, your invoice will be cancelled upon receipt of the book(s). Call us for a prepaid UPS label for your return. It’s as simple and easy as that. Most importantly, standing orders mean you will never have to worry about the timeliness of the information you’re relying on. And, you may discontinue standing orders at any time by contacting us at 1.800.960.1220 or by sending an email to books@bna.com.
Put me on standing order at a 5% discount off list price of all future updates, in addition to any other discounts I may quality for. (Returnable within 30 days.)
Notify me when updates are available (No standing order will be created).
This Bloomberg BNA report is available on standing order, which ensures you will all receive the latest edition. This report is updated annually and we will send you the latest edition once it has been published. By signing up for standing order you will never have to worry about the timeliness of the information you need. And, you may discontinue standing orders at any time by contacting us at 1.800.372.1033, option 5, or by sending us an email to research@bna.com.
Put me on standing order
Notify me when new releases are available (no standing order will be created)