Pesticide industries increase lobbying against new EPA regulations

Environmentalists are agitated by chemical industry trade group CropLife America’s increased spending to thwart EPA efforts to create stricter regulations on pesticide use. According to The New York Times, CropLife America spent $751,000 on lobbying in the last three months of 2010 — a 58 percent increase from the previous year’s expenditures — in response to signs that the EPA aims to increase regulations. Among the more burdensome regulatory efforts being challenged are a contemplated initiative to regulate pesticides under the Endangered Species Act, which would require industry to prove their products do not harm wildlife, and the establishment of a permit program under the Clean Water Act for pesticides sprayed over water sources. The lobbyists argue that such measures, “if left unattended will have serious negative impacts on our economy and on food and fiber production in the United States.” They also argue that these added regulations lack scientific foundation...more