Environmental, health groups sue EPA for rules to disclose pesticide ingredients

"Three environmental and public health groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, seeking to press it to move forward with rules that would require public disclosure of certain pesticide ingredients," Carey Gilliam reports for Reuters. The groups, the Center for Environmental Health, Beyond Pesticides and Physicians for Social Responsibility, "claimed there has been an 'unreasonable delay' on the EPA's part in finalizing rules to require chemical manufacturers to disclose hazardous inert ingredients in their pesticide products."

The EPA was petitioned in 2006 by more than 20 health groups and state attorneys to take action, but it wasn't until 2009 that the agency said "it was starting the rule-making process regarding disclosures of such ingredients," Gilliam writes. Five years later the EPA still hasn't adopted any new rules. The suit claims "There are more than 350 inert pesticide ingredients that can be just as hazardous as active ingredients that are labeled and can comprise up to 99 percent of a pesticide's formulation. Of the common inert ingredients, many are classified as carcinogenic, possibly carcinogenic or potentially toxic." (Read more)