Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds that— the Environmental Protection Agency (referred to in this section as the EPA ) regularly fails to incorporate updated scientific understanding to protect human health and the environment from the harmful effects of pesticide products, as envisioned by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act ( 7 U.S.C. 136 et seq. ), resulting in the use of billions of pounds of pesticides every year that were approved based on outdated science; the United States lags behind the European Union and other developed nations in protecting its people and its environment from toxic chemicals, allowing the use of 72 pesticides that have been banned or are being phased out in the European Union alone; the EPA registers nearly 65 percent of pesticides through conditional registrations and frequently waives requirements to extend the use of conditional registrations prior to completion of comprehensive registration; the EPA permits the continued sale of potentially dangerous stocks of pesticides after registration has been canceled, suspended, or otherwise voided; the EPA uses emergency exemptions to keep pesticides on the market for years without undergoing a comprehensive registration process that would ensure the safe use of the pesticides; the EPA is prohibited from requiring the disclosure of inert ingredients, even though inert ingredients can account for 99 percent of a pesticide product and include carcinogenic and toxic chemicals; scientists have repeatedly linked exposure to organophosphate pesticides to neurodevelopmental damage in children; the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service have determined that organophosphate pesticides jeopardize the survival of 97 percent of endangered species; neonicotinoid pesticides are contributing to the rapid decline of pollinators and the deterioration of pollinator health, including impaired foraging behavior and increased susceptibility to viruses, diseases, and parasites; exposure to paraquat— causes heart failure, kidney failure, liver failure, lung scarring, and damage to brain cells; and greatly increases the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease; local communities have been blocked by States from enacting pesticide restrictions to protect people and environment from toxic chemicals; and farmworkers are— disproportionately exposed to and harmed by pesticide use; and afforded inadequate safeguards and far less protection than industrial workers.
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U.S. Code