The Ninth Circuit decision orders the EPA to revoke all tolerances and cancel all registrations for chlorpyrifos within 60 days. A federal appeals court has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos, which former Administrator Scott Pruitt refused to do last year.The decision is a major win for environmentalists and health advocates. [node:read-more:link]
Two veterinary related bills have passed the Norht Carolina legislature. SB 750 will allow a licensed veterinarian to continue to prescribe targeted controlled substances from valid written, oral, or facsimile prescriptions. Licensed veterinarians will also be added to the definition of a “dispenser” when that person dispenses any Schedule II-V controlled substances. The North Carolina Veterinary Medical Board will require continuing education on controlled substance abuse and be added to the membership composition of the Prescription Drug Abuse Advisory Committee. [node:read-more:link]
Saying it “hide(s) the ball” and calling it “outright ‘trickeration,’ ” a Tallahassee judge has ruled that a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at ending dog racing shouldn’t go on the November ballot. [node:read-more:link]
Hawaii regulators took a step toward performance incentives for its dominant electric utility, but transitioning to true performance-based regulation (PBR) will be contentious, judging from the stakeholder response. The cost of importing expensive fuel oil for power generation in the state has led to many debates over the best way to align utility incentives with customer interests — such as using a sharing mechanism to split fuel price volatility risks between the utility's shareholders and its ratepayers. [node:read-more:link]
A trial in which a school groundskeeper alleged that his use of Monsanto's Roundup weed killer caused his terminal cancer will go to a California jury after lawyers for both sides delivered their closing arguments on Tuesday. Groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson is one of more than 5,000 plaintiffs across the United States who claim Monsanto's glyphosate-containing herbicides, including the widely-used Roundup, cause cancer. [node:read-more:link]
Smithfield Foods Inc. has struck out a third time with juries in North Carolina, as its Murphy-Brown LLC hog production unit was ordered on Friday to pay $473.5 million to plaintiffs in a noise and odor lawsuit filed by residents near some of its hog farms, according to court documents. Businesses raising hogs for Smithfield’s pork products have already lost two other cases, one in which the jury awarded $50 million and one in which the award was $25 million. In the third case, among dozens that have been filed, the jury in the U.S. [node:read-more:link]
The ongoing debate over what products like almond milk and meat created through cellular generation may be labeled and commercially called has tremendous financial stakes. Like the value of an established brand, the value of an established product name is significant, and food industry regulators must balance the potential of innovative and emerging technologies with the need to prevent confusion in the marketplace. The debate over what may be called “milk” is not new. [node:read-more:link]
The Oregon Supreme Court approved the use of a privilege tax to fund the state's Clean Vehicle Rebate Program on Sunday, after AAA Oregon/Idaho and Trucking Associations Inc. challenged the tax in November 2017, saying it violated Oregon's Constitution. The program is integral to Democratic Gov. Katie Brown's 2017 initiative to address greenhouse gases and climate change. [node:read-more:link]
According to USDA, prices for milk and dairy products for the remainder of 2018 are expected to be lower than previously forecast, due to downward price movements in recent weeks, high stock levels of cheese and whey, relatively weak growth in domestic use and expected impacts of tariffs imposed by China. For 2019, all price forecasts have been lowered except for butter. The Class III milk price forecast for August and September is from $14.70 to $15.70 per cwt. [node:read-more:link]
Calling it “unnecessary, unprecedented and unconstitutional,” the Murphy-Brown unit of Smithfield Foods is appealing a federal judge’s gag order related to the series of nuisance lawsuits filed against the hog producer in North Carolina, according to court documents. The gag order prevents anyone associated with the lawsuits, even neighbors, from speaking with a member of the press about the cases. More than two dozen such lawsuits have been filed against Smithfield in that state; the company has lost two of the cases so far. [node:read-more:link]
