"EPA yesterday [Tuesday] proposed watered-down regulations for a set of widely used insecticides linked to a range of human health and environmental concerns.
At issue are pyrethroids, a class of pesticides considered to be highly effective against crop pests. EPA acknowledged that pyrethroids pose threats to pollinators and aquatic life, adding that the risk is greatest with crops such as rice, which is grown around water, and grapes and blueberries.
Backing away from an earlier proposal to expand environmental safeguards, EPA proposed vegetative buffer strips to separate treated crops from waterways, limits on application in the wind and new labeling requirements to discourage consumers from pouring them down drains, for instance.
The proposal brought a rebuke from the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, which said the laxer recommendations overlook the pesticides' human health risks — including autism and Parkinson's disease — and threats to fish and bees."
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