Lawsuit Targets EPA Treated-Seed Regulations
Environmental groups asked a federal court on Wednesday to force the EPA to close what they say is a loophole in agency regulation that allows seeds treated with pesticides to go unregulated. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California.
The Center for Food Safety and Pesticide Action Network North America asked the court to declare the EPA in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act when it declared seeds coated with pesticides as treated articles exempted (TAE) from the same regulations required of pesticides. The groups outline in the lawsuit how they believe EPA is mistaken in its classification of pesticide-coated seeds.
"EPA rests its petition denial on the claims that, not only are the seed and plant an 'article' under the exception, but the seed and living plant are the exact same article," the lawsuit accused.
The lawsuit also challenges models used by EPA to decide which products to exempt from pesticides regulation. EPA’s modeling, the group says, assumes that none of the neonicotinoid on treated seeds planted deeper than two centimeters (0.8 inch) runs off, because this places the pesticide-coated seed below the 2-cm runoff extraction zone of the model.
But, the group continued, “if the model predictions were correct, there would be virtually no clothianidin in Iowa streams. Yet as noted above, this neonicotinoid is in fact found in 75% of Iowa stream and river samples, often at levels injurious to aquatic life.”
The three major members of the neonicotinoids class are imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin, registered by EPA in 1994, 2000 and 2003, respectively.
The Center for Food Safety and Pesticide Action Network North America asked the court to declare the EPA in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act when it declared seeds coated with pesticides as treated articles exempted (TAE) from the same regulations required of pesticides. The groups outline in the lawsuit how they believe EPA is mistaken in its classification of pesticide-coated seeds.
"EPA rests its petition denial on the claims that, not only are the seed and plant an 'article' under the exception, but the seed and living plant are the exact same article," the lawsuit accused.
The lawsuit also challenges models used by EPA to decide which products to exempt from pesticides regulation. EPA’s modeling, the group says, assumes that none of the neonicotinoid on treated seeds planted deeper than two centimeters (0.8 inch) runs off, because this places the pesticide-coated seed below the 2-cm runoff extraction zone of the model.
But, the group continued, “if the model predictions were correct, there would be virtually no clothianidin in Iowa streams. Yet as noted above, this neonicotinoid is in fact found in 75% of Iowa stream and river samples, often at levels injurious to aquatic life.”
The three major members of the neonicotinoids class are imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin, registered by EPA in 1994, 2000 and 2003, respectively.