Statement on Center for Food Safety et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency et al.

23 November 2024, Washington: Late yesterday, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in favor of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and CropLife America in our case to close the regulatory loophole which allows pesticide coated seeds to be exempted from registration review. Amy van Saun, senior attorney at Center for Food Safety (CFS) and counsel for the plaintiffs, offered the following statement in response:

“While we are still reviewing the decision, we are very disappointed in the outcome. Neonicotinoid treated seeds are used on at least half of all croplands in the US but pose an extreme danger to birds, bees, and other pollinators. With the future of agriculture and entire food webs on the line, it is irresponsible and unlawful that these pesticides will continue to be exempted from registration. We will be rigorously exploring all our legal options, including an appeal of this decision, as well as other legal actions. EPA has acknowledged the problem with a separate notice of proposed rulemaking but has negligently delayed in taking any action during this Administration. We will not rest until EPA does its job and stops this second Silent Spring.”

Center for Food Safety, along with Pesticide Action North America, originally sued EPA in 2021 after the agency failed to respond to a 2017 CFS rulemaking petition calling on EPA to close the loophole that allows these coated seeds to evade federal pesticide registration and labeling requirements, which are otherwise required for all insecticides. EPA ignored the petition for years, forcing CFS to sue the agency in 2021 to compel an answer through settlement. As a result, EPA finally answered the petition only to deny it, forcing us to sue again in 2023 challenging the denial as unlawful. This decision is a result of the 2023 lawsuit.

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