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United States Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representative Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) introduced proposed legislation (“Proposed Legislation”) to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (“FIFRA”).

Senator Udall is the Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies.

The Proposed Legislation would ban certain pesticides which include:

• Organophosphate insecticides
• Neonicotinoid insecticides
• Paraquat

The Proposed Legislation would also create a process:

• Petitioning the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) to identify pesticides that should not remain on the market
• Addressing EPA’s use of emergency exemptions and conditional registrations
• Enabling local communities to enact certain legislation related to substances regulated by FIFRA in certain instances
• Suspending the use of pesticides deemed unsafe by the European Union or Canada until reviewed by EPA
• Requiring employers of farm workers to report pesticide-caused injuries to EPA
• Requiring EPA to review pesticide injury reports and develop labeling to prevent further injury
• Requiring that all pesticide label instructions be written in Spanish

A copy of the Proposed Legislation can be found here and a Summary prepared by Senator Udall’s office here.