The EPA has approved two new fluorinated pesticides for corn and soybeans, sparking controversy over health risks and legal challenges following a Supreme Court ruling limiting lawsuits against pesticide makers.
On the same day the agency broadened the use of bifenthrin, an older fluorinated insecticide, to coffee, kiwifruit, peas, kale and broccoli. It also approved the first US food use of chlormequat on wheat, barley and oats, a growth regulator already detected in the urine of roughly 90% of Americans and linked in studies to reduced fertility and reproductive toxicity.
The approvals arrived after Kyle Kunkler, a former lobbyist for the American Soybean Association, was installed as deputy assistant administrator for pesticides. The soybean association had lobbied in favour of both new herbicides through the public docket. They mark the third and fourth PFAS pesticide clearances under the current administration, following cyclobutrifluram and isocycloseram.
I said elsewhere the termination of trade agreements with Mexico and Canada are funny, because now they lose a headache. UK, Israel, EU not so much.
Eta: moreover, USA negotiates trade agreements to force trading partners to lower standards, which is fine with EU leaders, despite theatre, because they serve the same business interest masters.
I said elsewhere the termination of trade agreements with Mexico and Canada are funny, because now they lose a headache. UK, Israel, EU not so much.
Chlormequat is used in the EU so.
So? Doesn’t mean it’s good.
Eta: moreover, USA negotiates trade agreements to force trading partners to lower standards, which is fine with EU leaders, despite theatre, because they serve the same business interest masters.