The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is introducing stricter conditions for the approval of chemical agents in agriculture. From now on, the possible effects of pesticides on the habitats of endangered plants and animals will also be taken into account. Previous temporary approvals will also have to comply with the new rules.
The EPA was forced to adopt stricter criteria due to dozens of lawsuits against farmers and the chemical industry. In the tightened approval process, the EPA can now impose usage bans in certain areas or limit quantities.
The EPA had already concluded in an interim report that the coatings ‘are likely to adversely affect’ the habitats of thousands of plant and animal species. An impending ban could have major consequences for US agriculture.
The herbicides imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam, which are often used in the cultivation of soybeans, sugar beets, corn, wheat, and cottonseed, are involved. Neonicotinoids are used on hundreds of millions of acres of American farmland.
Not only these three, but all pesticides in the United States must undergo this new, stricter screening. In the European Union, the use of these three neonicotinoids has been subject to stricter rules since 2018.
The EPA announcement coincides with the publication of a university study showing that hundreds of thousands of residents in California are drinking nitrate-contaminated water from their private drinking wells.
According to researchers from UC Berkeley and UCLA, drinking water for more than 370,000 Californians is contaminated with arsenic, nitrate, and other chemicals. In many cases, the state's agricultural industry is to blame, they say.
The report is the first comprehensive analysis of water quality in California. Their work was recently published in the American Journal of Public Health. According to the researchers, about 10 percent of public drinking water systems in California do not meet minimum health standards.
The study analyzed three common contaminants – arsenic, nitrate, and hexavalent chromium. Two of the three are linked to California’s agricultural sector. Partly due to the ongoing drought in California, agriculture has pumped a lot of groundwater, resulting in an increase in arsenic levels. Nitrate contamination is mainly connected to California’s extensive agribusiness, including runoff from fertilizers and industrial livestock farming.