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Enviro, food groups to sue US EPA over Syngenta’s Acuron
Jun. 25, 2015
Conservationists and food safety advocates notified the U.S. EPA of their intent to sue over its approval of Syngenta's new maize herbicide bicyclopyrone, accusing the agency of failing to properly consider the chemicals’ effects on endangered animals and plants.
In a formal 60-day notice, the Center for Food Safety and Center for Biological Diversity told the EPA’s Administrator Gina McCarthy the agency had violated the Endangered Species Act when it registered the new active ingredient bicyclopyrone and pesticide product Acuron, which they argued were likely to “cause irreparable harm to most listed species in the United States.”
The agency approved bicyclopyrone and Acuron for use in weed control for corn on April 24. Bicyclopyrone is an herbicide that acts in susceptible plants, broadleaf weeds and proso millet, by inhibiting the biosynthesis of carotenoids, which leads to the destruction of chlorophyll. Acuron combines the new herbicide with other existing pesticides.
Under the ESA's Section 7, consultation is required for any action "likely to jeopardize the continued existence of a proposed species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of proposed critical habitat."
The groups also argued the EPA had violated Section 9 of the ESA because the use of the pesticides would result in a “take” of listed species as defined under it. The section prohibits any person from taking any endangered or threatened species, with the term “take” referring to “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, trap, kill, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.”
According to the groups, when the EPA approved bicyclopyrone for sale as an ingredient in Acuron in April, it failed to consider its own risk assessment showing the chemical’s dangers alone and in combination with the other Acuron ingredients and RoundUp, which is commonly used on corn.
The groups announced their plan to sue in the midst of National Pollinator Week and noted in a statement that the EPA had expressed concern about bicyclopyrone’s effects on bees, saying it may cause acute and chronic effects to pollinator insects. In its ecological risk assessment, the agency said, “Since bicyclopyrone is a systemic herbicide, residues may be transported to pollen and/or nectar and represent a route of exposure for bees through both contact and ingestion.”
“The EPA’s failure to look before it leaps has once again put imperiled wildlife across the country in harm’s way,” Lori Ann Burd, environmental health director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
Source: Law360
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