NRDC Sues EPA for Unreasonable Delay in Addressing Toxic Pesticides in Food

WASHINGTON, D.C. – NRDC filed suit against the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today for failing to respond to a petition requesting that the agency revoke all “food tolerances” for neurotoxic neonicotinoid pesticides. Food tolerances are the pesticide residue levels permitted in food. 

The 2020 petition determined that current neonicotinoid (neonics) tolerances violate the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act, as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act—passed unanimously by Congress in 1996 to protect children from toxic pesticide exposures. The EPA’s current tolerances permit widespread exposure to neonics, demonstrated developmental neurotoxicants, at levels that are not safe for the American population. 

The following is a statement from Rebecca Riley, managing director for Food & Agriculture at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

“This failure to respond to unsafe levels of neonics in our food is a danger to our health, especially for our children. 

“On any given day, neonics are in the bodies of at least half the American population, and the EPA’s own data reveals hundreds of poisonings, some fatal, due to neonic exposure. Studies also link neonics to birth defects, cognitive impairment, and lower testosterone. 

“To protect the health of Americans, the administration must accept the data and follow the law to make sure our food is safe from toxic neonic residues.”

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).