New legislation introduced in the U.S. House and Senate would make comprehensive updates to the 1996 Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the law governing pesticide use in the U.S. While unlikely to get serious consideration in Congress this year, the bill looks to limit the options available for farmers to control pests.

Introduced Aug. 4 by Rep. Joe Neguse (D., Colo.) and Sen. Tom Udall (D., N.M.), ranking member of the Senate appropriations subcommittee on interior, environment and related agencies, the Protect America’s Children from Toxic Pesticides Act of 2020 (PACTPA) would ban organophosphates, neonicotinoids -- which have been blamed for pollinator deaths -- and paraquat pesticides, which are banned in 32 countries, including the European Union. The bill also creates a petition process to the Environmental Protection Agency for individual citizens and alters the process for emergency exemptions, among other changes.

The bill would enable local communities to enact policies without being vetoed or pre-empted by state law and would suspend the use of pesticides deemed unsafe by the EU and Canada, pending EPA review, and would require the EPA administrator to make a finding within 90 days on petitions filed to designate chemicals as “dangerous.”

Related:EPA issues favorable preliminary decision on neonicotinoids

In a call announcing the bill, Udall said the “consequences of failing to update this law could be deadly.” He added that the pesticide industry has touted pesticides as a boon to agriculture but claimed that there’s “no evidence its use boosts crop yields.”

Both Udall and Neguse said the bill interprets the science to decide what should be regulated.

“We are fortunate to have, throughout the Second District, some of our nation’s top experts in the environment’s delicate and intricate systems, including organic and regenerative agriculture,” Neguse said of his congressional district. “For years, these experts have been warning us of the dangers posed by the existing and largely profit-driven regulatory and oversight system. It is the responsibility of Congress to listen to the science and these experts and enact this landmark pesticide reform.”

Udall added, “This bill updates our laws so that they adhere to the science, and the science is warning us that we must protect critical links in our food chain and protect children and farmworkers from brain damage and other health risks of dangerous pesticides.”

Udall, who is set to retire after the term expiring this fall, said chemical safety has been an area of bipartisan cooperation before. He said it's similar to the last major reform bill 25 years ago, in which different viewpoints were negotiated, and all stakeholders ended up agreeing.

Related:Certain neonicotinoids may benefit bumblebees

“Everybody feels that something needs to be done here,” Udall said. “We’re at the beginning of the process. The first thing you need is a strong bill” to galvanize efforts and bring people to the table.

Neguse recognizes that Congress has a full plate over the next few months but said the bill is a positive step forward that puts “a stake in the ground in what reform looks like” for potential changes to pesticide approvals.

The American Seed Trade Assn. said it will be closely tracking the bill.