Farmers and environmental organizations have launched a new legal challenge against the Environmental Protection Agency, arguing its latest approval of the controversial herbicide dicamba ignores court rulings, scientific evidence and the interests of growers harmed by chemical drift.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court by a coalition that includes the National Family Farm Coalition, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Food Safety and Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network, challenges the EPA’s decision to re-register dicamba for use on genetically engineered soybeans and cotton.
The decision marks the latest chapter in a years-long dispute over dicamba, a weedkiller widely used in U.S. agriculture but criticized for its tendency to volatilize and drift, damaging nearby crops, orchards and natural vegetation.
“EPA’s re-registration of dicamba flies in the face of a decade of damning evidence, real world farming know-how and sound science, and, oh-by-the-way, the law,” said George Kimbrell, legal director of Center for Food Safety and counsel in the case. “In reality, the Trump administration has once again betrayed farmers and poisoned the environment to pad corporate pesticide profits. We will see them in Court.”
The EPA, now led by administrator Lee Zeldin, has said updated rules would reduce the risk of off-target damage. However, critics say the new approval removes several restrictions that were intended to limit harm.
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