Center for Biological Diversity: Emergency Approval of Neonicotinoid in Florida Likely to Harm Pollinators
Excerpt from this press release from the Center for Biological Diversity:
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that it has approved emergency use of a bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticide on up to 75,000 acres of Florida citrus crops, including oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, lemons and limes.
This marks the 10th year that the EPA has granted a so-called “emergency” exemption of clothianidin for use on bee-attractive citrus trees in Florida to target the Asian citrus psyllid, the vector for citrus greening disease.
“This is truly a race to the bottom when it comes to the ever-more toxic chemical soup being applied to these fields,” said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “When the EPA grants so-called emergency approval year after year to a pesticide that’s never undergone a full safety review there’s something fundamentally wrong about this approach.”
There are currently 16 different insecticides approved to combat this insect in Florida, including three other neonics: imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and sulfoxaflor, according to the University of Florida.
Imperiled pollinators that will likely be harmed by today’s approval include the American bumblebee, the southern plains bumblebee and the leafcutter bee.
The EPA has routinely circumvented the normal pesticide-approval process by allowing emergency exemptions for predictable and chronic situations that occur over many consecutive years. Emergency exemptions allow the use of pesticides that are either not approved or are approved for some uses but prohibited for certain other uses.
In 2019 the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General released a report finding that the agency’s practice of routinely granting emergency approval for pesticides across millions of acres does not effectively measure risks to human health or the environment.
