- June 2, 2022
Sen. Marshall Leads Letter Calling on Biden to Defend Glyphosate and Other Crop Protection Products
(Wichita, KS, June 2, 2022) – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS) is continuing to fight to protect American farmers’ access to critical crop protection products by urging President Joe Biden to defend Glyphosate in the Supreme Court of the United States. Unfortunately, his Administration continues following the far-left platform of banning pesticides.[i]
A new letter from Senators Marshall, Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and James Lankford (R-OK) highlights several examples of political decisions the Biden Administration has taken to appease unelected activists instead of lowering food prices for Americans. Access to safe, effective pesticides is vital for allowing farmers to continue to efficiently and sustainably feed, clothe, and fuel the world. The Senators wrote, in part,
“We write today with serious concerns regarding the direction your Administration has taken with respect to crop protection tools. Your Administration has taken an interagency, blanket posture of denying or limiting access to critical crop protection tools, even during times of record inflation, rising food prices, and global food insecurity. We ask that you direct all levels of your administration to work hand in glove with farmers as they work through supply chain challenges. This includes directing your DOJ, EPA, and USDA to ensure farmers have meaningful access to the tools they use to feed the world.”
You may click HERE or scroll down to the read the full text of the letter.
June 2, 2022
The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Biden:
We write today with serious concerns regarding the direction your Administration has taken with respect to crop protection tools. Your Administration has taken an interagency, blanket posture of denying or limiting access to critical crop protection tools, even during times of record inflation, rising food prices, and global food insecurity.
The latest example of this occurred as recently as May 10, 2022, when the U.S. Solicitor General (USG) reversed a long-held view on federal preemption, siding with the Plaintiffs Bar on the impending glyphosate litigation and recommending the Supreme Court of the Unites States not hear the case about the safe use of glyphosate – a product American farmers use on roughly 40% of acreage that enables more than $50B of US crop production annually. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) even maintains the science on glyphosate remains unchanged. Therefore we are left to wonder if this decision to allow states to utilize unscientific, anti-pesticide scare tactics on labeling is solely a political decision in order to appease progressive activist groups who are not concerned about where their food comes from or how much it costs. As such, we ask that you direct the Department of Justice (DOJ) to reverse its recommendation and defend the product, as consistent with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act requirements on misbranding.
It should be noted, DOJ’s recommendation undermines the science and responsible use of this pesticide. For more than 40 years, leading health and safety regulators around the world, including the EPA under both parties, have repeatedly concluded glyphosate is not carcinogenic. In fact, the DOJ brief makes multiple references to EPA’s safety conclusions regarding the tool.
Your administration, specifically the EPA, pledged to uphold scientific integrity. However now, EPA only chooses to invoke science when convenient, and uses the courts as a shield to not appear to be at odds with the agricultural industry on pesticide polices. For instance, Administrator Regan keeps pointing to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals with respect to its decision to revoke all food tolerances for Chlorpyrifos in August of 2021. However, the court clearly gave EPA an option to retain 11 safe uses of the product— a point the Administrator himself is either unaware of or likes to ignore when talking to farmers about this issue.
Recently, EPA also announced a new additional step in the process for evaluating and registering new active ingredients (AIs) through the Endangered Species Act (ESA). EPA will now evaluate the potential effects of the AI and initiate an ESA consultation with the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, as appropriate, before registration. A calculation which will add months to the already tedious pesticide registration process. EPA claims this is in efforts to mitigate legal risks, yet it will inevitably have a detrimental impact to U.S. food prices.
On the same day as this announcement, the EPA announced the renewal of registrations for Enlist One and Enlist Duo using this new process. Enlist is a critical crop protection tool that many producers rely on. At first blush, this was a welcome announcement. However, hidden in the fine print were county-wide prohibitions on the product that came after many farmers already invested in the seed and the product.
Dicamba is another major crop protection tool for U.S. soybean and cotton farmers. On December 21, 2021, EPA put out an unrequired, not mandated report tallying up the “increased number of drift complaints” of Dicamba from last growing season. This could only be interpreted as an attempt to build a record to justify abandoning or restricting the current label in future growing seasons.
These are several examples of political decisions your Administration is making to appease unelected activists instead of lowering food prices for Americans. It is a reoccurring theme attempting to placate both constituencies, and it needs to stop here. Access to safe, effective pesticides is vital for allowing farmers to continue to efficiently and sustainably feed, clothe, and fuel the world. Crop protection products like the ones listed above are the key to make no-till farming practical and efficient at a commercial level. They are the reason the government can discuss farmers sequestering the carbon produced by other industries in the U.S. If these tools are not available, farmers will be forced to revert to full tillage methods, which would ultimately set yields and conservation efforts back decades. The bottom line is, pesticides are necessary to continue an efficient, economical, and sustainable system of food, fiber, and biofuels production. Importantly for your administration, they are necessary to sequester the carbon released from other industries. To maintain good conservation practices and the benefits they offer, it is important growers can reasonably access and use pesticides.
Our farmers and ranchers are charged with delivering global food security under unprecedented circumstances. We ask that you direct all levels of your administration to work hand in glove with farmers as they work through supply chain challenges. This includes directing your DOJ, EPA, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure farmers have meaningful access to the tools they use to feed the world.
Sincerely,
Background on Senator Marshall’s Work on Accessible, Reliable Agriculture Inputs:
- In July 2021, Senator Marshall sent a letter to EPA Assistant Administrator Dr. Michal Freehoff urging her to ensure pesticide registrations and rulemakings are based on proven science to prevent producers from being subject to unnecessary and burdensome regulations.
- In January 2022, Senator Marshall joined a group of his peers for a zoom call with EPA Administrator Michael Regan and other EPA officials to discuss the problematic direction EPA is head with decisions that restrict access to safe and necessary crop protection products.
- In February 2022, Senator Marshall co-signed a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan that called on him to redirect the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs away from their current propensity for overly precautious, blanket bans and severe restrictions of necessary crop protection tools back towards a regular, risk-based regulatory process.
- During a May 2022 hearing in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry, Senator Marshall stressed to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Vilsack the importance of the crop protection product glyphosate, which is used on 40% of all U.S. farm acres, and urged the secretary to stand up to the Environment Protection Agency’s position on glyphosate that will restrict farmers’ access to the pesticide.
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[i]2020 Democratic Party Platform, Page 53, https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/08/2020-Democratic-Party-Platform.pdf
