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Feds propose protecting monarch butterflies under Endangered Species Act
By Douglas Main
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on Tuesday proposed listing the monarch butterfly as a threatened species, a move that follows years of mounting concerns about declining counts of the iconic insect.
The decision to grant the butterflies protections under the Endangered Species Act comes after years of analysis and demands from environmental groups for stronger protections for monarchs.
“Today’s monarch listing decision is a landmark victory 10 years in the making. It is also a damning precedent, exposing the driving role of pesticides and industrial agriculture in the ongoing extinction crisis,” George Kimbrell, legal director at the Center for Food Safety, said in a press release. The center is one of the groups that sued the government over the issue several years ago.
The group noted in its statement that the “once-common orange-and-black butterflies have declined by 90% in recent decades, with the latest count showing the second smallest population on record.”
Under the government proposal, critical habitat would be designated for the insect, and a recovery plan crafted. The proposal opens a 90-day comment period that will close on March 12, 2025, after which the FWS is likely to issue a final opinion. It is unclear how the incoming Trump Administration, which is expected to emphasize deregulation, will act on the proposal and comments.
US EPA bans toxic dry cleaning chemical
By Shannon Kelleher
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday issued a ban on a highly toxic chemical used in dry cleaning, glue and stain removers, a move the agency called a “major milestone for chemical safety after decades of inadequate protections and serious delays.”
The new rule will ban the manufacture and processing of trichloroethylene (TCE) for most products within one year, allowing a longer phaseout period for TCE use in aircrafts, medical devices and some other applications.
TCE is a known human carcinogen, and is also linked to birth defects and liver and kidney disease, as well as a surge in global Parkinson’s disease diagnoses.
“With no doubt that these chemicals are deadly, there is no doubt that this final rule will save lives – especially our children’s lives – around the country,” Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) said in a statement.
The chemical, contaminates the drinking water of an estimated 19 million people, posing an especially high risk to pregnant women, infants and young children..
In a 2020 risk evaluation, the EPA found that 52 out of 54 conditions of use for TCE carry “unreasonable” health risks.
While all uses of TCE will ultimately be prohibited, “some of the exemptions associated with longer timeframes are necessary to avoid impacts to national security or critical infrastructure,” the EPA states on its website.
Iowa is “in crisis” due to illegal manure discharges into waterways, new report says
By Carey Gillam
Iowa regulators are failing to properly penalize Iowa factory farms for illegally contaminating state waterways with animal waste, according to an analysis released Monday by a public health advocacy group.
Between 2013 and 2023, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recorded 179 incidents in which livestock operators discharged manure in violation of the law, fouling creeks and rivers and killing off more than one million fish, according to Food & Water Watch, which based its report on a review of state discharge enforcement reports. The quantities of discharges ranged up to 1 million gallons, the group said.
The findings show a “state in crisis,” according to the group, which said its analysis found “no area of the state is safe from manure discharging into waterways.”
The group noted the violators have paid less than $750,000 in penalties for the illegal actions, despite the fact that such spills can carry harmful contaminants known to cause birth defects, cancers and other health problems in people.
“While factory farms spur on Iowa’s worsening water pollution crisis, the state is letting corporate giants get off with barely a slap on the wrist,” Food & Water Watch organizer Michaelyn Mankel said in a statement.
Spotlight on cancer-causing food additive as advocates demand FDA ban Red Dye 3
By Shannon Kelleher
In the waning days of the Biden administration, a long-fought battle over a cancer-causing food additive is again in the spotlight as consumer advocacy groups and lawmakers demand federal regulators ban Red Dye No. 3, a chemical used to give popular candies, foods and drinks their cherry-red colors.
The issue took center stage Thursday at a US Senate hearing where lawmakers grilled Jim Jones, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deputy commissioner for human foods, over the issue.
“Red 3 has been known to cause cancer in cosmetics but we still allow it to be put in our food. I don’t understand that,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville said in the hearing. “If we know something is deadly for anybody that ingests it how do we continue to just study that and not say hey, enough is enough?”
Industry studies linked Red Dye 3 to cancer in rodents more than 30 years ago, and public health groups have spent years lobbying food companies and regulators to get the chemical out of foods.
Two years ago, two dozen organizations and scientists submitted a petition to the FDA demanding a ban, citing a 1990 FDA conclusion that the chemical causes cancer when fed to rats.
Last month, 23 members of Congress sent a letter to the FDA also calling for a ban, saying the FDA “should act quickly to protect the nation’s youth from this harmful dye.” The letter noted Red Dye 3 has been banned or mostly banned in Europe, Australia and New Zealand and California has a ban on the dye in food taking effect in 2027.
“Thirty-four years of inaction is far too long,” the letter states.
In Thursday’s hearing, Jones said the agency was “hopeful” it would “be acting on that petition” in the “next few weeks.”
It is “long past time,” for the FDA to ban the dye, US Rep. Frank Pallone said in a Dec. 5 letter to the FDA. “With the holiday season in full swing where sweet treats are abundant, it is frightening that this chemical remains hidden in these foods that we and our children are eating.”