EPA did not adequately analyze the impact of streptomycin on pollinators or endangered species, a federal appeals court concluded Wednesday, vacating the agency’s 2021 approval of the antibiotic for use on citrus.
The agency also “failed to provide a sufficient explanation for the registration labels’ suggestion that streptomycin can be used to prevent” citrus greening and citrus canker, the court said, even as the agency was able to show it is effective at treating those diseases.
“EPA’s evaluation of streptomycin’s effects on bees does not pass muster,” the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in its decision, which came in a case brought by Migrant Clinicians Network and seven other groups.
The agency also conceded it had not performed the required analyses on the effects of streptomycin’s use on endangered species, the court noted.
The decision does not take effect immediately. The court must allow the parties to file requests for rehearing, if they wish, and issue its mandate making the decision official.
Given that EPA could not commit to a date certain for completion of the requisite analyses, the court said it had to vacate the registrations while EPA works on them.
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The court did find, however, that EPA “adequately accounted for the various pathways by which antibiotic resistance might spread following streptomycin’s application to citrus groves. And the agency sufficiently explained why the risk of increased resistance was not unreasonable based on defined mitigation measures.”
The registrations affected are in citrus crop group 10-10, which includes lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruits, and other less common fruits, such as the pummelo.
The court said that while it was “sympathetic … to the plight of citrus growers, whose products contribute to our food supply,” it could not give EPA “a blank check remand” of the issue without vacating the registrations.
Groups bringing the lawsuit also include Beyond Pesticides, Center For Biological Diversity, Environmental Confederation Of Southwest Florida, Farmworker Association Of Florida, Farmworker Justice, Natural Resources Defense Council and U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
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