California plans to ban toxic pesticides by 2050, according to a new report. California Gov. Gavin Newsome’s administration has released a policy framework for eliminating or significantly reducing the use of controversial pesticides by 2050 in California. (Click here to see the framework.)
The report, generated by a stakeholder-led task force, details actions targeting pesticides that pose the greatest threats to the environment or socially disadvantaged communities. Pesticides like fumigants, neonicotinoids and organophosphates fall within the priority parameters. Dubbed a sustainable pest management roadmap, the set of recommendations was nearly two years in the making and involved 25 members in the work group, ranging from academics to farmers, industry groups and pesticide manufacturers—alongside environmental activists and tribal members. The document makes clear that group members sometimes had opposing views on the recommended actions and “at times struggled to reconcile their divergent thinking.” While the members have signed off on the final report, “not every member values any one of the goals or recommended actions equally.”
Along with reducing pesticide use, the report prioritizes the need for state and federal governments to shore up investments in pest prevention, streamlining registrations and evaluations for new products and educating the public on existing safety standards. It also goes beyond rural issues, proposing new standards for urban settings, where nonagricultural uses account for as much as 55% of pesticide sales in California and up to 75% of the reported illnesses.
The report touts a more holistic approach to pesticide management, exploring alternatives to targeted pesticide ingredients before enacting a ban on their use. Soon after taking office in 2019, Gov. Newsom fractured the state’s relationship with the agriculture community by ordering the cancellation of chlorpyrifos before the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) completed an evaluation. Afterward, DPR formed a working group to find alternatives to the insecticide. Among the recommendations, the stakeholders urged the department to expand the alternatives work group to develop a more comprehensive strategy that goes beyond one pesticide and addresses other challenges in research, cooperative extension and funding.
