empowering farmworkers to improve their living and working conditions since 1981

Update on lawsuit challenging the use of two pesticides

Newsletters - Spring 2010 Newsletter

There have been some recent developments in our lawsuit challenging the EPA's approval of two toxic pesticides, guthion and phosmet. In May 2008, the US District Court for theWestern District ofWashington dismissed the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, finding that such challenges to EPAdecisions must be brought directly to an appellate court. We appealed the decision and in January, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's ruling. On April 19, the Ninth Circuit denied our petition to review the case. This means that any future court challenges of the EPA's pesticide re-registration decisions must be brought directly to the Court of Appeals within 60 days of the decision.  Such challenges will be difficult because the EPA does not always announce its pesticide re-registration decisions in a public forum, such as a posting in the Federal Register.

During earlier settlement negotiations in the case, EPA agreed to phase-out of all guthion uses by 2012. While we had hoped for an earlier end to the use of this chemical, the 2012 date still stands.

This lawsuit was filed by Farmworker Justice, Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, and California Rural LegalAssistance, on behalf of plaintiffs United FarmWorkers, Sea Mar Community Health Center, PCUN, Beyond Pesticides and Frente Indigena de Organizaciones Binacionales.