RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment) recently joined more than 350 pesticide user organizations, sending a letter to all members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives voicing support for the pesticide regulatory system currently in place under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
This letter responded to legislation, S. 3283, recently introduced by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) that would undermine the standards of FIFRA and impact the availability of the pesticide products that protect public health, pets, infrastructure, schools, waterways, green spaces and food and agriculture production.
“Our members’ role is to protect public health and safety, infrastructure and the environment, so we must have the assurance of a federal regulatory process that supports science and innovation, along with safety and efficacy,” says Megan Provost, RISE president. “The federal regulatory process established under FIFRA gives us this certainty with its robust scientific backing. Sen. Booker’s bill rejects 50 years of established federal and state regulation and science in favor of an approach where science is absent.”
Provost continued by stressing the importance of the specialty pesticide and fertilizer industry and pesticide users to be engaged with their members of Congress and talk about the benefits of pesticide use and the existing regulatory framework.
“The start of this new Congress gives all of us an opportunity to reach out to our members of Congress to share our expertise about pesticide regulation and application and to learn whether our state’s senators are cosponsors of S. 3283,” she said.
The proposed legislation would change the availability of certain U.S. Environmental Protection Agency registered pesticide products and place limitations to what is available for professionals to treat residential, commercial and public spaces.
S. 3283 would impact:
- Products and applications made for vector control
- Protecting and enhancing homes and public places
- For noxious and poisonous weed control
- Creating firebreaks and utility rights of way
- Protecting public infrastructure
- Controlling plant species that harm native species and ecosystems.
RISE will continue actively monitoring S. 3283 and other anti-pesticide legislation. At this time, no companion bill to S. 3283 has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.
To review S. 3283 and its language, click here.
To download the letter sent to Members of Congress click here.
