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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Friday, April 26, 2024
The legal fight over sulfoxaflor, an insecticide used on a wide variety of crops, is expected to enter a new phase as EPA tries to give itself enough time to complete endangered species assessments and environmental groups continue pushing to ban the product.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has left the registration of sulfoxaflor intact but given the Environmental Protection Agency a short timeline to assess the insecticide’s impacts on endangered species.
The Environmental Protection Agency is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to allow continued use of sulfoxaflor while it examines effects on endangered species and develops a more “robust” rationale to support uses of the insecticide.
Environmental groups and attorneys general from 11 states are opposing EPA’s request to keep the registration of the insecticide sulfoxaflor in place until the agency can comply with Endangered Species Act requirements.
The Environmental Protection Agency has approved the insecticide sulfoxaflor for use on corn, cotton, sorghum and citrus, as well as other crops, the agency announced Friday, saying it had concluded the chemical posed no significant risk to bees and that alternatives to the chemical are worse for the environment.
