New Lawsuit Challenges Registrations for Enlist One and Enlist Duo
Environmental groups continued their fight against EPA’s registration of Enlist and Enlist Duo herbicides by filing a new lawsuit seeking to vacate those registrations. The Groups’ 100-page complaint alleges that EPA’s decisions violate the Federal Insectide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by failing to account for risks and adverse effects, including:
- understating the risks of spray drift, damage to non-tolerant crops, increases in herbicide resistance, and impacts to wildlife areas
- overstating the benefits of Enlist in combating herbicide-resistance weeds
- ignoring the human health risks of Enlist Duo, including the connection of its glyphosate component to non-Hodgkins lymphoma
- failing to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prior to renewing the registrations
- failing to prevent jeopardy and adverse modification to endangered species and critical habitats.
The suit asks the court to vacate the Enlist registrations and enter an order prohibiting the sale and use of the herbicides already manufactured and purchased.
New York Passes Bill to Ban Neonicotinoid-Treated Seed
New York’s legislature recently passed the Birds and Bees Protection Act, a bill that will prohibit the sale of corn, soybean, and wheat seed treated with neonicotinoids (“neonics”) beginning on January 1, 2027. The bill also prohibits the use of neonics in non-agricultural settings such as home gardens. Many stakeholders have criticized the Act as a step backward and short-sighted, particularly within the Ag community. Neonics have become a staple seed treatment to protect crop seed from damaging pests before and during germination. But in recent years, neonics, which are chemically similar to nicotine, have come under heavy fire from environmental groups’ claims that the pesticide is harmful to pollinators, particularly bees. Since seed treatments are applied and used in low volumes, several argue that banning neonics will result in increased use of older pesticides.
Cell-Cultured Chicken Approved for Dinner
Two companies recently obtained final regulatory approvals to sell the first cell-cultured chicken in U.S. markets. The USDA gave the go-ahead to Good Meat and Upside Foods, two California-based companies that have been front-runners in the development of cultivated meat. USDA’s approvals followed pre-market approvals by the Food and Drug Administration last year. Although the products have been approved for sale, they face a number of hurdles, including a high cost of production compared to live birds, limitations on the scale of production, and a better-sounding name than “cell-cultivated chicken.” You can read more here.
