BEYOND PESTICIDES

Take Action—Last Chance This Fall To Tell the NOSB To Uphold Organic Integrity! The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) is receiving written comments from the public on key issues, which must be submitted by 11:59 PM EDT on September 30, 2024. This precedes the upcoming public comment webinar on October 15 and 17 and a deliberative board hearing in Portland, Oregon on October 22-24—concerning how organic food is produced. We urge you to submit comments and add a sentence or two explaining why organic is important to you! ✨ For a complete discussion and additional comments, please see BEYOND PESTICIDES' Keeping Organic Strong page and review the Fall 2024 issues!  https://ow.ly/Iw9U50TrTPY Additional priority issues on the agenda this fall include: ➡️ Make elimination of plastic in organic a research priority. ➡️ Eliminate nonorganic ingredients in processed organic foods as a part of NOSB's sunset review. ➡️ All segments of organic production and regulation should cooperate in ensuring that organic products are produced using organic seed and starts. 🌱 Click here to submit your comments to the NOSB by 11:59 PM EDT on September 30, 2024. https://ow.ly/1aSN50TrTPX

The Growth of Organic Production and Supply Chains Emphasizes Importance to the Public A recent article in Flatwater Free Press identifies a growing trend of companies, communities, and farms nationwide advancing organic agriculture and land management. Among the signs of this change is Belltown Farmswith a Philadelphia, PA owner and operator of organic and organic-transitioning farms, that, according to the article, is “the second-largest buyer of Nebraska’s increasingly expensive farmland by money spent between 2018 and 2022,” with plans to expand to 50,000 acres in states across the country. Similarly, the continued success of the Nebraska-based, on-farm processing operation, Grain Place Foods, Inc, and its collaboration with farmers focused on small-scale organic production, represents the diversity of economic and organizational models that can exist in local, regional, national, and even international food systems. The development of organic certified farmland in a state like Nebraska, which contains just 113,000 total certified acres as of the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic survey in 2021, is a significant move. While larger retail chain engagement with certified organic farmers—to improve consumer access to fresh, organic produce—makes a significant contribution, it demonstrates how strengthening the definition of “organic” is important to ensure consumer trust in the USDA organic label and the value of organic as a public good. #organic #agriculture #landmanagement #retail #food #usda *** BEYOND PESTICIDES has identified the promise of organic in fighting existential health, biodiversity, and climate crises and ongoing threats to the system’s integrity, some of which are addressed in the current public comment period on issues before the National Organic Standards Board. 📣 The deadline to submit comments is this MONDAY, September 30, at 11:59 PM EDT! https://ow.ly/LxuE50Txebo Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/R7g250TxebH

Daily News: Study Shows Disproportionate Pesticide Exposure and Resulting DNA Damage to Latinx Farmworker Children DNA damage is significantly higher in Latinx children from rural, farmworker families than children in urban, non-farmworker families, according to a recent study published by French and American authors. Wake Forest University School of Medicine | Institut de Cancérologie de l'Ouest (ICO) | Oregon State University | Oklahoma State University Not only do farmworker children test positive for organophosphate pesticides more frequently than non-farmworker children, but the results indicate that farmworker children also experience an increased frequency of DNA damage associated with the presence of organophosphate exposure, especially with the insecticide chlorpyrifos. These results highlight the disparities in exposures and outcomes for children from vulnerable immigrant communities. As long as pesticides remain in use, farmworkers and their families will continue to shoulder a disproportionate share of the toxic effects of these chemicals. #farmworkers #children #latinx #environmentaljustice #pesticides #exposure #organophosphates #chlorpyrifos #dna *** BEYOND PESTICIDES maintains that a far better use of the energy, time, and expense that goes into evaluating and regulating pesticides would be to undertake a broad and necessary transition away from petrochemical pesticide and fertilizer use towards organic regenerative agricultural systems. Organic practices avoid industrial agriculture’s reliance on these inputs while proven to be successful, cost-effective, and beneficial for soil, human, and environmental health. ✨ As National Organic Month draws to a close, please consider advocating on behalf of all workers required to use toxic pesticides in their work, including farmworkers and their families. Take action by September 30 to keep organic strong and continuously improving: https://ow.ly/4KOk50Twlm6 Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/CBCb50Twlmj

Daily News: OIG Investigative Report Points to Continuing Industry Influence in Key Chemical Cancer Ranking In a semiannual report released in August, the U.S. EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG) identifies multiple “unresolved” issues that strike the core of the failure of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to carry out its responsibilities to protect health and the environment. One of the issues identified is the agency's failure to conduct an adequate and independent assessment of the cancer effects of the broad spectrum soil fumigant, 1,3-Dichloropropene (1,3-D or Telone), shown in multiple studies to increase the risk of adverse public health effects. See BEYOND PESTICIDES' Gateway resource here: https://ow.ly/1EMs50Tvj8x [OIG’s original 2022 report also concluded that EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs engaged in secret meetings with industry, elevated unqualified individuals to decision-making roles, used an untested scientific approach, failed to conduct a simple literature review, and neglected public transparency.] In light of serious deficiencies in cancer assessment, Inside Climate News took a look back at the ongoing situation that puts public and worker health at serious cancer risk, discovering that EPA relied on the findings of an industry-supported group, SciPinion. Despite describing itself as"instilling universal trust in science,” SciPinion was found by investigative reporters to enable scientific uncertainty—pushing forward scientific reports on chemical products overwhelmingly funded by the same companies producing them. [Of 130 papers examined with a funder listed, 82 percent were noted to have been sponsored by corporate interests, either the producer of the substance under study or the producer’s trade group.] 🎯 The perfect disinfectant to corruption is shining a light on how it pervades institutions originally established in service of defending and enhancing the public interest. ➡️ For a historical example, please read our Daily News on the "Monsanto Papers," referencing reporting by Carey Gillam: https://ow.ly/EzXY50Tvj8w Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/fNH650Tvj8v

Since January, Friends of the Earth U.S. and more than 40 other environmental and public health organizations, including BEYOND PESTICIDES, have called on Target to address pesticide use in its supply chain. Target has not responded to these calls. We all have the right to food—developed within an accountable and enforceable holistic system—that is produced without the use of petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers. #organic #pesticides #target #supplychain #pressrelease #research #babyfood #systemschange #OrganicForAll 🎯 Click here to read the letter to Target CEO Brian Cornell in June, urging him to take clear, measurable action of pollinator-toxic pesticides in its supply chain: https://ow.ly/9YHA50TtMBG 🎯 Click here to read a press release led by Friends of the Earth: https://ow.ly/XHET50TtMBP

Daily News: Human Health Disregarded with Obsolete Regulations and Risk Management, Researchers Find Commentary by Maricel Maffini, PhD, and Laura Vandenberg, PhD, highlights the pitfalls in current U.S. regulatory systems for chemicals that threaten human health. Despite advancements in science over the past few decades—and the wealth of studies that tie chemical exposure to negative health effects—risk assessments, and subsequent risk management, remain “static” and “outdated.” University of Massachusetts Amherst “There is increasing concern amongst public health professionals, environmental health scientists, and medical organizations about exposures to synthetic chemicals,” the researchers say. “These organizations’ concerns are based on the overwhelming evidence showing associations between chemical exposures and adverse health outcomes in human populations.” Such concerns have sparked a debate on current regulatory methods for chemicals in highly used products, such as pesticides, plastic containers, and food. “The problems we describe here illustrate a common paradox in U.S. regulatory agencies: they are mandated to make safety decisions based on science that is constantly evolving while the risk management is commonly static,” the authors conclude. 🎯 Risk assessments relying on outdated principles and expectations put human health at risk. Any reforms to the current practices within the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would face stiff resistance from the chemical industry and those aligned with their positions in Congress. The strategies in place leave all organisms, including humans, vulnerable to adverse health effects from chemical exposure and create a pressing need for the public to call for change. 🍁 Be part of the organic solution this fall by becoming a member of BEYOND PESTICIDES: https://ow.ly/cB7G50Tujmm Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/fLm750Tujmx

Daily News: Calling for Action: Organic Only Stays Strong and Grows Stronger with Public Input—Comments due by Sept 30! BEYOND PESTICIDES is calling for the public to submit comments to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) during its Fall review—a second action in a two-part request to weigh in on issues at the heart of the integrity of practices allowed under the USDA organic label. The issues addressed in this second action include: ending plastic in organic production and processed food as a research priority; eliminating nonorganic ingredients in processed organic food; and, requiring organic products to be produced using only organic seeds and starts. ➡️ Action II—Last Chance This Fall To Tell the NOSB To Uphold Organic Integrity: https://ow.ly/u86S50Ttmkx The first action during the current comment period can be found below and includes: a full review of “Inert” ingredients used in organic production; strengthened compost regulations; and, rejection of a proposal for a new animal drug in livestock production without required specific use information. ➡️ Action I—Keep Organic Strong Through Continuous Improvement: https://ow.ly/RA0250Ttmkz As a means of taking on the challenges of health threats, biodiversity collapse, and the climate emergency, updating organic requires public input to keep organic strong. Organic maintains a unique place in the food system because of its high standards and the ongoing opportunity for continuous improvement transparently via public involvement. However, this only happens if the public participates in voicing positions on key issues to the stakeholder advisory board. #keeporganicstrong #organic #nosb #lastchance #sept30 Image: Shelves at The Blue Hill Co-op & Café, Blue Hill, Maine. Photo by Jay Feldman, heading to the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association Common Ground County Fair. Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/47b250TtmkA

Daily News: National Call To Ban Weed Killer Linked to Parkinson’s Disease Gains Momentum, Stalls in California As the California State Assembly wrapped up the 2024 legislative session, what was once a proposed ban of the deadly weed killer paraquat (in agricultural and nonagricultural contexts) was amended and passed as a requirement for the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to complete an “expedited review” by January 1, 2029. 🎯 Paraquat exposure has been linked to Parkinson’s disease. Environmental advocates, public health professionals, and many who have been affected by Parkinson’s disease are calling for the emergency suspension of paraquat, applying the same standard used by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban the herbicide Dacthal/DCPA last month. ↪️ See our Daily News, California Bill Would Ban Deadly Weedkiller, Paraquat, Linked to Parkinson’s Disease in Face of EPA Inaction, for more information: https://ow.ly/vaJ850TrNbo EPA used its statutory authority outlined in FIFRA's “imminent hazard” clause to cancel the registration of Dacthal/DCPA on August 7, after decades of documented adverse health impacts to exposed children and pregnant mothers, including fetal hormone disruption leading to “life-long impacts” such as impaired brain development and motor skills. Rather than relying on private settlements and existing stocks orders, EPA’s decision on Dacthal—the Dacthal Standard— opens the door for fenceline communities and the public to demand robust actions on a variety of toxic pesticides, including atrazine and paraquat. ↪️ To learn more via BEYOND PESTICIDES' analysis of the Dacthal Standard, click here: https://ow.ly/bXIy50TrNbq #paraquat #parkinsons #ban #dacthalstandard #momentum See today's Daily News for links to TAKE ACTION during National Organic Month—from urging EPA to suspend the registration of atrazine by applying the Dacthal standard to submitting comments for the Fall 2024 National Organic Standards Board meeting on more priority issues. Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/nemr50TrNbE

Daily News: EU Risk Assessment Fails to Predict Limits of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) The European Union’s (EU) risk assessment process, required for registration, fails to accurately or reliably predict pesticide exposure rates, sometimes by several orders of magnitude, according to a recent study published by French researchers. Université de Bordeaux | Centre François Baclesse | Université de Caen Normandie | CHU de Bordeaux Pesticide registration in the EU leverages the Agricultural Operator Exposure Model (AOEM)—a predictive model developed in 2014 to estimate expected non-dietary pesticide exposure levels for operators based on a limited set of data generated by the pesticide industry. By comparing #glyphosate dermal exposure by knapsack sprayers in a field study conducted in a nonagricultural area with the values estimated by AOEM, the authors add to the body of scientific literature indicating that fossil fuel and petrochemical pesticide industry data cannot be relied upon as a benchmark to ensure public health and safety. Models that predict real-world exposure and underestimate field data raise critical questions about the efficacy of risk assessment reviews that determine product labels and allowed level of harm. [The most significant difference was evident in hand exposure: AOEM estimated it at only 0.11 mg/day, which was 42 times less than the field-measured exposure of 4.62 mg/day.] Recognizing that risk calculations are often not adequately protective—and that widely used chemicals can be replaced by practices and products without the hazards—BEYOND PESTICIDES advocates for the adoption of organic land management, a systems approach eliminating toxic chemical pesticides and fertilizers while building organic matter and soil biology as a means of cycling nutrients for plant health. #ppe #glyphosate #exposure #eu #aoem #riskassessment 🌳 This approach is successfully and economically used in managing lawns, parks, and playing fields across the country, including as the foundation of our Parks for a Sustainable Future Program: https://ow.ly/MOQI50TqWvq Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/KK3Q50TqWvw

Daily News: Over 300 Pesticides Identified in Contaminated Bee Pollen Around the World Analyzing scientific articles from the last ten years, a literature review identifies more than 300 pesticides in bee pollen from around the globe. This highlights the exposure of bees to these toxic chemicals and their degradation products, during foraging in croplands and gardens, which then transfer to bee-derived products. Estación Experimental de Zonas Aridas | Universidad de Almería While the composition of bee pollen can vary between geographical locations with different flowers, the studies reviewed all utilize mass spectrometry to pinpoint pesticides, as well as mycotoxins (created by naturally occurring mold spores), that threaten human health. Bee pollen, often used as an edible dietary supplement, is not regulated for pesticide residues. This sparks concern for human exposure due to contamination with pesticides, heavy metals, metalloids, and mycotoxins. Similar to other governmental authorities, such as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Commission Maximum Residue Levels, in place for 666 pesticides across 13 categories, do not include bee pollen. With a rise in the use of bee pollen as a natural supplement, the lack of internationally shared quality norms for its production and distribution is of concern. The presence of hundreds of contaminants in these beekeeping products enhances the need for safer alternatives that remove petrochemical pesticides from use in agriculture and land management. #bees #beepollen #pesticides #pollinators #organic 🐝 The adoption of organic methods mitigates the exposure of all organisms, specifically beneficial insects like pollinators, to toxic chemicals. Take action with BEYOND PESTICIDES to continuously improve upon the values and standards for organic food production: https://ow.ly/PBAp50Tq76R Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/g9KW50Tq76Q