EPA will allow use of pesticide harmful to bees

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Monday it will allow states to use a pesticide that is harmful to bees. The agency made an emergency exception for 11 states to use sulfoxaflor on cotton and sorghum crops. Sulfoxaflor’s use was temporarily barred after a lawsuit from beekeepers in 2015, but the EPA in 2016 changed its instructions for how to use the pesticide in a way designed to reduce the impact on bees. Cotton and sorghum were not included in the directive. The EPA’s Office of Inspector General wrote in a report last year that the agency did not have processes in place to determine how its emergency measures impact human and environmental health. An EPA spokesperson said the emergency exemption was granted with public safety in mind, as well as the needs of farmers...MORE