The EPA wrongly exempted insecticide-coated seeds from regulation and must be ordered to “assess and register” the seeds as pesticides, said two environmental groups in a lawsuit filed on Thursday. The groups said the neonicotinoid insecticides commonly used on the seeds cause widespread harm to birds, pollinators such as bees, beneficial insects, and endangered species.
The Center for Food Safety and the Pesticide Action Network North America said the lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, would force the EPA to treat the seeds as pesticides. The agency exempted them as “treated articles” and in 2022 denied a petition by the Center for Food Safety to begin the rulemaking process for regulating the seeds as pesticides.
Insecticide-coated seeds are widely used as a precaution against such pests as soybean aphids, although some researchers question the value of the coatings. The lawsuit estimates that coated seeds are used on 150 million acres of cropland annually.
“Neonicotinoids have … contributed to the widespread decline of bee populations and other widespread ecological effects, including harm to aquatic life, impacts so severe they are being called a second Silent Spring,” said the lawsuit. “EPA must apply that [pesticide] registration process to coated seeds and stop exempting them from it.”
To read the lawsuit, click here.