Viewpoint: In regulating pesticides, will the US adopt European Union policies that have crippled agricultural innovation? – Genetic Literacy Project

This is not the first time a bill of this type has been introduced in Congress. But with a Democratic majority in the House (and slimly in the Senate) and a Democratic President, it stands a greater chance of passing without Republican support. As of this publication, the bill has been introduced in the Senate and referred to that body’s Agriculture Committee.

While Booker’s press release stresses the need for scientific review by the EPA under FIFRA, his citations are not exactly from peer-reviewed scientific sources. The call for a ban on organophosphates cites a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) study, which was based on urban, and not rural, exposure. For neonics? The Natural Resources Defense Council. Paraquat? The Michael J. Fox Foundation, for a possible connection to Parkinson’s Disease (which has no known cause).

The GLP featured this article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. The viewpoint is the author’s own. The GLP’s goal is to stimulate constructive discourse on challenging science issues.

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