After decades of inaction, last Friday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a proposed plan to implement its Endocrine-Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP), EPA’s program for evaluating how pesticides may harm the hormone systems of humans and wildlife.
The proposed implementation plan results from a tentative legal settlement between EPA and a coalition of farmworker and environmental health organizations, including Center for Food Safety, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Organización en California de Líderes Campesinas, Center for Environmental Health, Pesticide Action Network of North America, and Rural Coalition, who challenged the agency’s failure to test and regulate endocrine-disrupting pesticides in court in 2022.
The endocrine system, or hormone system, operates as one of the body’s main control systems, regulating nearly every process from growth and development to fertility and sexual function. Pesticides can disrupt the hormone system by increasing production of some hormones while decreasing others, and interfering with their signaling. Disruption can impair fertility and immune function, cause cancer, and create metabolic abnormalities. In 1996, Congress mandated that EPA implement the EDSP to evaluate pesticides’ potential endocrine disrupting effects. Nearly 3 decades later, EPA has tested fewer than 50 of more than 1,315 registered pesticides for endocrine-disruption effects and completed only 34 of those tests.
“Many of the pesticides covered by the agreement are linked to birth defects, significant reproductive harms, and certain cancers in people, particularly farmworkers who are in direct contact with these toxic chemicals,” said Sylvia Wu, attorney for Center for Food Safety, counsel for the plaintiffs in the case. “After decades of inaction despite these terrible harms, as a result of our lawsuit EPA is now committed to much needed steps to protect farmworkers and the public from the potential endocrine-disrupting harms of pesticides.”
In October 2023, nearly a year after plaintiffs sued the EPA, EPA proposed an overhaul of the EDSP. Today’s proposed legal agreement builds on that initial overhaul by setting deadlines by which EPA will implement the EDSP and assess pesticides’ endocrine-disrupting effects. Under the terms of the proposed agreement, over the next five years, EPA will collect data on and assess the effects of endocrine-disrupting pesticides, either as part of the agency’s registration review of registered pesticides or as a part of new pesticide approvals. To maximize protection of farmworker and public health, the proposed agreement provides opportunities for farmworker input on prioritizing certain pesticides, and requires EPA to provide regular public updates on the status of their ongoing assessment. Per the agreement, EPA will complete endocrine-disrupting assessment for 86 pesticides over the next 10 years.
“Alianza Nacional de Campesinas applauds the EPA’s agreement to advance the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP). As farmworker women, the dangers posed by endocrine-disrupting chemicals in pesticides are a lived reality that threatens our health and the well-being of our families. While the EPA’s commitment to implementing pesticide screenings is a vital step forward, more work is needed to ensure that harmful chemicals are removed entirely from our fields and communities,” said Mily Trevino-Sauceda, executive director & co-founder of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, a plaintiff in the case.
Recent studies show endocrine disruptors are in the blood or urine of nearly everyone, impacting people’s fertility and sexual function, metabolic systems, sleep, and immune response. Without the legally mandated implementation of EDSP testing for endocrine effects, pesticides that are likely disrupting the endocrine system remain registered, exposing farmworkers, landscapers, consumers, and wildlife to harm. EPA is providing a 30-day public comment period on the proposed legal settlement.
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