The Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) has petitioned EPA to restrict the use of glyphosate herbicide to protect the dwindling population of the monarch butterfly. The petition states that the rapid adoption of glyphosate-resistant (Roundup Ready®) corn and soybeans in the Midwest has depleted the milkweed “community,” which serves as the exclusive food source for monarch butterfly larvae along the route of its annual migration from Canada to Mexico.
NRDC petitioned EPA under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). FIFRA requires EPA to register each pesticide used in the U.S. and set parameters for the pesticide’s use, such as target species, labeling requirements, and restrictions on use. Each pesticide must undergo a re-registration process every 15 years. The current glyphosate re-registration process will be completed in 2015; however, NRDC has requested EPA take action to restrict the use of glyphosate prior to the scheduled completion of the re-registration process.
Under FIFRA, EPA can register a pesticide only if it first determines that the pesticide “will perform its intended function without unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.” FIFRA defines an unreasonable adverse effect on the environment to include “any unreasonable risk to . . . the environment, taking into account the economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits of the use of any pesticide.” In its petition, NRDC argues that the loss of milkweed communities brought about by increased glyphosate use has brought about unreasonable adverse effects on the environment because it has decreased monarch butterfly habitat.
Read the rest of this post on John Dillard’s AgWeb.com blog – Ag in the Courtroom.
