>>Tell EPA to start protecting people and pets from pesticide poisoning—dog
Tell EPA To Start Protecting People and Pets from Pesticide Poisoning

In light of a critical Office of Inspector General (OIG) report on multiple systemic failures by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) to protect people and their pets, it is time to elevate our sustained voice for change. And, as we point out serious regulatory and statutory problems, it helps to shift consumer demand for alternative practices and products that do not use petrochemical pesticides. Please continue to raise your voice with us!

>>Tell EPA to start protecting people and pets from pesticide poisoning. 

The most recent OIG report, published on February 29, 2024, The EPA Needs to Determine Whether Seresto Pet Collars Pose an Unreasonable Risk to Pet Health, concludes that the "EPA's response to reported pesticide incidents [poisonings and deaths] involving Seresto pet collars has not provided assurance that they can be used without posing unreasonable adverse effects to the environment, including pets." At the time the animal effects made headlines in 2021, the agency defended the product's registration, telling the media that, despite these incidents, EPA deemed Seresto collars “'eligible for continued registration' based on best available science, including incident data... No pesticide is completely without harm, but EPA ensures that there are measures on the product label that reduce risk.” Despite the scathing criticism, EPA maintains the position that it conducted an adequate review of the two active insecticide ingredients in the pet collars—the neurotoxic insecticide flumethrin, and the notorious neonicotinoid imidacloprid with adverse effects on the endocrine system and environment.

Key to EPA's deficiency in regulating the chemicals in Seresto pet collars is the agency's failure to evaluate the full pesticide formulation in the collars and the synergistic effect of the mixture of chemicals. As Beyond Pesticides pointed out in 2021 when the poisonings and deaths made headlines, a 2012 study found [flumethrin and imidacloprid] have a 'synergistic effect,' meaning they are more toxic together on fleas...“ However, EPA consistently fails to evaluate the synergistic effects of pesticides, a 2016 EPA bulletin concluded: “The risk of the combination of the two active ingredients, flumethrin and imidacloprid, was not assessed because the two chemicals act in completely different ways.” Similarly, as Beyond Pesticides has pointed out repeatedly, EPA does not do an adequate job of evaluating the risks and harms of exposures to multiple pesticide compounds, as well as those of so-called  “inert” or “other” pesticide ingredients that are not disclosed on the product label.  

The OIG points out that EPA's handling of the flea and tick collars—implicated in 105,354 incident reports, including 3,000 pet deaths and nearly 900 reports of human injury—highlights known shortcomings in EPA's pesticide registration program, including (but not limited to)

  • Failure to address combined effects of multiple pesticides; 
  • Failure to investigate impacts on pets; 
  • Failure to adopt standard operating procedures and a methodology to determine when pet products may pose unreasonable adverse effects to the environment; 
  • Failure to collect complete incident data that would allow EPA to fully understand the risks and take appropriate action; and 
  • Failure to assure the public of the safety of the products. 

Furthermore, EPA continues to rely on labeling to reduce risk, despite its failure to protect pets, children, farmworkers, pollinators, and biodiversity. If the labeling is not protecting people, then the agency is not fulfilling its responsibility to protect public health and safety and the pesticide products should not be allowed on the market. This ongoing harm to humans and the biosphere must be taken as a sign that pesticide use must be eliminated. When faced with evidence of harm from a pesticide, EPA must take steps to halt its use.  

>>Tell EPA to start protecting people and pets from pesticide poisoning. 

The targets for this Action are the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Congress.  

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