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Message to EPA: Time to Stop Persistent Herbicides!
In the summer of 2012, Green Mountain Compost, owned and operated by Chittenden County Solid Waste District, Williston, Vermont, suffered a devastating discovery—something in their compost was causing garden plants to contort and wither! The culprit? A couple of pernicious, persistent herbicides called clopyralid and picloram.
The more we learn about these chemicals, the more troubling they are. Allowable residues in food crops are in the parts per million, and 500 ppm in forages, yet these compounds are still active (meaning they still negatively impact sensitive germinating and growing plants) at the part-per-billion level, a thousand times less than allowed. (For tolerance levels, click here for Clopyralid or Aminopyralid.
We are calling on the EPA to add a “compostability test” to its registration requirements, and to set a compostability standard for all chemicals that could potentially end up in a composting facility.
We are further urging EPA to (1) immediately initiate a Special Review Process for all herbicides that are pyridine-based compounds and act by mimicking plant growth hormones (auxins), and (2) impose a moratorium on the use and sale of these herbicides pending the conclusion of the Special Review Process.
Read More about what the USCC is doing to fight persistent herbicides.
FAQ and additional resources
Please support our work to fight these persistent herbicide! These battles cost money, and herbicide manufacturers have deep pockets. We hope you will take the opportunity to contribute to the Fight Persistent Herbicides Fund by using one of the buttons at the top of this page (which lets you use Paypal or a credit card) or by calling us at 301-897-2715.
Or enter your own amount.
Message to EPA: Time to Stop Persistent Herbicides!
In the summer of 2012, Green Mountain Compost, owned and operated by Chittenden County Solid Waste District, Williston, Vermont, suffered a devastating discovery—something in their compost was causing garden plants to contort and wither! The culprit? A couple of pernicious, persistent herbicides called clopyralid and picloram.
The more we learn about these chemicals, the more troubling they are. Allowable residues in food crops are in the parts per million, and 500 ppm in forages, yet these compounds are still active (meaning they still negatively impact sensitive germinating and growing plants) at the part-per-billion level, a thousand times less than allowed. (For tolerance levels, click here for Clopyralid or Aminopyralid.
We are calling on the EPA to add a “compostability test” to its registration requirements, and to set a compostability standard for all chemicals that could potentially end up in a composting facility.
We are further urging EPA to (1) immediately initiate a Special Review Process for all herbicides that are pyridine-based compounds and act by mimicking plant growth hormones (auxins), and (2) impose a moratorium on the use and sale of these herbicides pending the conclusion of the Special Review Process.
Read More about what the USCC is doing to fight persistent herbicides.
FAQ and additional resources
Please support our work to fight these persistent herbicide! These battles cost money, and herbicide manufacturers have deep pockets. We hope you will take the opportunity to contribute to the Fight Persistent Herbicides Fund by using one of the buttons at the top of this page (which lets you use Paypal or a credit card) or by calling us at 301-897-2715.
