Today, a number of groups including: the Center for Food Safety, Beyond Pesticides and the Sierra Club, (along with affected citizens from around the country), filed a Sixty-Day Notice with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of their intention to jointly sue the Agency for its violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The intended lawsuit centres on the EPA's failure to ensure, (through consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), that the EPA's approval of numerous pesticides containing the neonicotinoid insecticides: clothianidin and thiamethoxam, are not likely to jeopardize any Federally-listed threatened or endangered species. "The EPA has failed to uphold the clear standards of the Endangered Species Act," said Peter Jenkins, attorney at the Center for Food Safety. "By continuing to ignore the growing number of reports and studies which demonstrate the risks of neonicotinoids to honey bees, and a large number of threatened and endangered species, the EPA is exposing these already compromised populations to potentially irreversible harm."
The 60 Day Notice of Intent to Sue follows a previous legal petition filed by several environmental organizations and many beekeepers, which demanded that EPA immediately suspend use of the pesticide clothianidin, which poses a grave threat to pollinators. The EPA refused to issue an immediate suspension of clothianidin, but did agree to open a public comment docket to review additional points raised in the legal petition. "EPA's failure to observe the law potentially poses a direct, long-term threat to the sustainability of fragile ecosystems," said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides. "Given the known hazards of clothianidin and all neonicotinoid pesticides, EPA's lack of respect for known-scientific-evidence and existing regulations, endangers environments that are essential to our well-being."
In the nine years since the EPA conditionally registered clothianidin for use on corn and canola (oilseed rape), the agency has admitted to both the hazards of the insecticide and the need for compliance with the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The EPA fact sheet on clothianidin reads as follows: "Clothianidin is expected to present acute and/or chronic toxicity risk to endangered/ threatened birds and mammals via possible ingestion of treated corn and canola seeds. Endangered/ threatened non-target insects may be impacted via residue-laden pollen and nectar. The potential use sites cover the entire U.S. because corn is grown in almost all U.S. states." The agency has also admitted that thiamethoxam poses similar toxic threats to the same range of species. Despite EPA's recognition of the acute and chronic toxic risks which these chemicals pose to endangered species of: birds, mammals and insects, from nearly a decade ago, the agency has continued to ignore concerns surrounding the effects on these critical species. Over the past twelve years, EPA has approved a total of 86 pesticide-products containing clothianidin and thiamethoxam, allowing the use of these insecticides on more than 30 food-crops, as well as for gardening, turf-grass and building-applications. "The disconnect at EPA between the serious risks these toxic chemicals pose to pollinators and the approval of the products that contain them is inexcusable," said Laurel Hopwood, Sierra Club's Genetic Engineering Action Team chairwoman. "One-third of our food supply relies on the presence of pollinators. EPA should be protecting these species, not endangering them." The Sixty-Day Notice accuses the EPA of several violations of the Endangered Species Act, since it has licensed clothianidin and thiamethoxam to be applied over a vast area of American farmland, either within, or near, a wide range of critical habitats and ecosystems. If the alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act are not resolved within 60 days, the signatories to the letter may then sue the EPA.
Source: Graham White, personal cpommunication, September 6th, 2012
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