Another Thanksgiving victory for agriculture

On Nov. 21, 2016, EPA won an important case for American farmers. EPA defended farmers’ rights to plant seeds coated with neonicotinoids – a class of insecticides that kill insects by affecting central nervous system. Coated seeds will continue to be exempt from EPA regulation under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act because of this court case.  The Center for Food Safety, American Bird Conservancy, Pesticide Action Network North America, and Pollinator Stewardship Council sued EPA claiming it failed to enforce FIFRA regarding seeds planted by American farmers. CFS is an environmental advocacy organization “…working to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture.” Environmental groups claimed that many seeds planted by farmers in the U.S. are coated with neonicotinoids. The plaintiffs themselves claimed that coating seeds with neonicotinoids is having a catastrophic impact on the beekeeping industry. The Court and plaintiffs might review a Washington Post story, July 23, 2015, which noted that U.S. honey bee colonies had hit a new high. Others, including The White House, put out a study on the health of honey bees. The reason was beekeepers did notice mysterious die-offs called “Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD). According to USDA, even with CCD, honey bee colonies have risen since 2006 from 2.4 million to 2.7 million in 2014. In fact, commercial  honey producing bee colonies “…is now the highest it has been in 20 years”.