Industry Questions Shifting EPA Approach Toward State Pollinator Plans

摘要

Industry officials are raising concerns that EPA's apparent decision not to review and approve the plans many states are crafting to reduce bees' exposures to pesticides could allow for inconsistency between states' plans and eliminate protections growers thought they might enjoy from strict new pesticide labels provided they complied with a state plan. "It suggests some potential confusion," an industry source said, after a Florida state regulator told an April 23 pesticide producers conference in Arlington, VA, that the upcoming federal strategy for protecting pollinators is unlikely to call for EPA approval of state pollinator protection plans. If state plans are not referenced on federal pesticide labels, "What role do they play, and what recourse does the grower have if the label restricts the ability to use a product to the point that it is not effective?" the source asks.