Jay Feldman, Executive Director, Jfeldman@beyondpesticides.org, 202-255-4296 Max Sano, Senior Policy and Coalitions Associate, msano@beyondpesticides.org, 202-543-5450 x218
180 Groups Nationwide Call on Lame Duck Congress to Reject Sweeping Farm Bill Amendments that Undermine Health and the Environment
WASHINGTON, DC, November 6, 2026—As retiring Democratic leaders in the House and Senate Agriculture Committees huddle with the authors of the Republican Farm Bill to negotiate and fast-track the legislation, 180 national, state, and local organizations from across the country are asking the negotiators to reject amendments that undermine longstanding public health and environment protections. In a letter to outgoing ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Angie Craig, and outgoing ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Senator Amy Klobuchar, the groups call the pesticide provisions in the bill “a sweeping set of exemptions, waivers, and revocations undermining 50 years of environmental laws adopted by Congress to protect farmers, families, and the environment.”
The letter identifies numerous provisions of the Farm Bill that “(i) Undermine pesticide safety reviews and standards, (ii) Undercut endangered species protections, (iii) Exempt synthetically derived chemicals from safety reviews, (iv) Waive reviews for chemical categories, and (v) Delay pesticide safety reviews by five years for chemicals in wide use today.” The letter calls on negotiators to remove Title X, “Subtitle B—Regulatory Reform” from the Senate Bill, S.5526, Agricultural Act of 2026, also contained in Title X Subtitle C, “Part 1, Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act” of H.R. 7567, Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026. See letter “Re: Opposition to unacceptable pesticide provisions within the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 and Agricultural Act of 2026.” The letter states: “While there have been serious cutbacks and deregulation in health and environmental protections under the Trump administration, the structural changes in the Farm Bill, if not removed, will institutionalize the rollbacks that have occurred— undermining critical programs. While current laws governing pesticide registration, use, and exposure have serious limitations as currently written, the identified pesticide and endangered species provisions in the Farm Bill will turn the clock back on safety standards and reviews by a generation or more and should be removed from any legislation moving forward.”
Key among the issues of critical concern are the following:
1. Pesticide Safety Reviews and Standards Undermined. With the Farm Bill's expanded mandates for management of pesticide registration at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), this would tilt safety reviews in favor of industry, rather than families.
2. Endangered Species Protection Undercut. EPA will not be able to enforce "any policy, strategy, workplan, or pilot program" related to protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) without consulting with an Interagency working group, effectively blocking any further protection for threatened or endangered species due to industry influence.
3. Synthetically Derived Chemicals Exempt from Safety Reviews. Safety reviews will be waived for pesticides defined as “low-risk profile” because they are “synthetically derived, but structurally similar and functionally identical to substances of biological origin,” waiving safety reviews of families of pesticides like hazardous synthetic pyrethroid insecticides linked to cancer and neurological effects, and neonicotinoid insecticides, linked to dramatic declines in native and honey bee populations.
4. Reviews of Plant-Incorporated Protectants(PIPs), which Can Be Genetically Engineered, Would Be Waived. EPA is given wide discretion to determine that PIPs, a euphemism for plants that have incorporated pesticides through genome editing, are “of a character which is unnecessary to be subject to this Act.”
Deadline for Reviewing Pesticide Safety Extended for Five Years after Missing a 15-Year Deadline. EPA's failure to meet the most basic health and environmental safety reviews of widely used toxic pesticides, like the weed killer glyphosate, is codified without any assurance that pesticides will be reviewed. Congress must set a sunset deadline for review. For letter and signatories, see here. - 30 - Beyond Pesticides is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., which works with allies in protecting health and the environment with science, policy, and action to lead the transition to a world free of toxic pesticides.