TRENTON
– Fourteen states, including New Jersey,
today petitioned the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) to require pesticide manufacturers
to disclose on the label of their products
all hazardous ingredients. More disclosure
will lead to greater consumer awareness
of the potential health and environmental
impact of using pesticides, New Jersey Attorney
General Zulima V. Farber noted in announcing
the action.
“Under
current EPA labeling requirements, a pesticide
ingredient must be disclosed only if it
is harmful to pests, not if it is harmful
to people and the environment,” said
Farber.
EPA
currently requires that pesticide labels
disclose only the product’s “active”
ingredients -- those toxic materials that
are intended to kill insects, weeds or other
target organisms. However, pesticide products
also contain many other “inert”
ingredients. Although intended to preserve
or improve the effectiveness of the active
ingredients in particular pesticides, these
“inert” ingredients often are
toxic themselves.
Although
almost 400 chemicals used for this purpose
have been found by EPA or other federal
agencies to be hazardous to human health
and the environment, EPA does not require
them to be identified on pesticide labels.
Current EPA regulations allow the identity
of almost all “inert” ingredients
to be omitted from the label based only
on their function in the product, not on
their health or environmental effects. States
are pre-empted by federal law from requiring
additional labeling for pesticides.
“EPA’s
rules are at complete odds with common sense
and public health,” said Attorney
General Farber.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer
said: “Consumers have a right to know
about toxic ingredients in consumer products,
whether or not those ingredients are ‘active’
or ‘inert.’ There is no logical
reason for EPA to mandate disclosure of
those ingredients that harm pests but exempt
from disclosure other ingredients that cause
serious health and environmental problems.”
California
Attorney General Bill Lockyer said: “We
all have a right to know about hazardous
chemicals contained in pesticide products
we use, and the EPA has a duty to protect
our health and the environment by requiring
manufacturers to list these ingredients
on product labels. EPA alone can and must
take this long overdue step to protect the
public, because States do not have this
regulatory authority.”
In addition to New York and California,
11 other states have joined in the EPA petition
including: Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut,
Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.
Also joining in the petition is the U.S.
Virgin Islands.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal
said: “The EPA is inexplicably misleading
the public - allowing hazardous substances
in pesticides to be identified simply as
‘inert’. The EPA’s failure
to demand disclosure of these harmful substances
is unconscionable. These chemicals should
be disclosed to consumers so they are fully
informed and empowered to protect themselves.
Our demand that EPA immediately require
that these chemicals are identified on pesticide
labels is supported by science and common
sense, as well as law.”
Illinois
Attorney General Lisa Madigan said: “Consumers
have the right to know what they’re
exposing themselves and their children to
when they use pesticides. We have everything
to gain and nothing to lose by requiring
these toxic substances to appear on product
labels.”
Maryland
Attorney General J. Joseph Curran said:
“If you are buying a pesticide, and
there is a hazardous chemical in that product,
you have every right to know that.”
Massachusetts
Attorney General Tom Reilly said: “Pesticides
are toxic by design, and EPA should require
manufacturers to identify all ingredients
that pose a threat to our health and the
environment. Although most consumers might
think ‘inert’ means harmless,
hundreds of so-called inert ingredients
that manufacturers don’t have to disclose
are actually hazardous. To allow consumers
to be misled in this way is unconscionable.
Once again, it seems like a concerted effort
by the states is the only way we can get
the Bush Administration’s attention
on the environment.”
New
Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid
said: “There is a common misconception
that inert ingredients are inactive and
do not pose any harm. That is not the case
and the public has a right to know. While
the inert ingredients in a pesticide many
pose no harm to pests, such substances can
pose health or environmental hazards. Sound
public policy should lean toward full disclosure.”
Rhode
Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch
said: “The word ‘inert’
doesn’t necessarily mean ‘safe.’
One of the chief goals of good government
is to make the public aware of information
that is necessary to protect the public
health. The people of the State of Rhode
Island have a right to know what kinds of
chemicals are being used in their homes,
in their yards, and on their food so that
they can make better and more informed decisions
to protect their health and the health of
their children.”
Wisconsin
Attorney General Peggy A. Lautenschlager
said: “In this day and age, how can
the EPA allow pesticide companies to label
hazardous chemicals contained in pesticide
products as ‘inert’ ingredients?
These chemicals have been shown to be hazardous
and are anything but ‘inert’
As a result of EPA’s current policies,
scores of pesticide product labels are deceptive
and misleading to unwitting pesticide users
who rely on the assumption that these products
are safe because they are regulated by the
EPA. This dangerous charade has to stop.”
Currently,
so-called “inert” ingredients
- which make up as much as 99 percent of
many common pesticides, are kept secret
and are not listed on the pesticide labels.
The chemicals used as “inerts”
include many that EPA has officially determined,
under other statutory programs, to be hazardous
or toxic. Among these are “inert”
ingredients known or suspected to cause
cancer, central nervous system disorders,
liver and kidney damage, and birth defects,
as well as a variety of short term health
and ecological impacts. A consumer would
never know about their presence in consumer
products, under current labeling requirements.
The
Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to
Pesticides and 21 other environmental and
public health organizations also filed a
similar petition with the EPA today.
View
the
petition (1.3 MB PDF
plug
in) to the Environmental Protection
Agency.
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