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Perdue: Economists, Not Scientists, Should Handle Pesticide Policy

In August, the Environmental Working Group reported that Environmental Predation Agency chief Scott Pruitt is ceding pesticide oversight to the Department of Agriculture. Now USDA chief Sonny Perdue is moving oversight of pesticide policy from the USDA scientists to USDA economists.

According to the November 14 USDA memo posted by Agri-Pulse this week, Secretary Perdue has transferred the Office of Pest Management Policy from the Agricultural Research Service to the Office of the Chief Economist.

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition smells manure in that move:

It is difficult to understand how the Office of the Chief Economist and its small staff within the Office of the Secretary would manage IPM research and regional centers or create broad scientific plans and strategies for pest management. Perhaps when details of the plan are released this will become clearer; but in the meantime, we have additional concerns with respect to USDA’s advisory role with EPA on pesticide regulation. Will the scientific advice provided by ARS now be replaced by advice based purely on economics and the costs to industry of restricting the use of hazardous chemicals? That could be one reading of the intent of the change, and one that Congress should seek answers on before approving the movement of funding from ARS to the Chief Economist [“Trump Administration Undertaking Historic Reorganizing of USDA, But to What End?NASC’s Blog, 2017.09.15].

But with Congress rushing to give plutocrats all the Christmas presents it can, I don’t think we’ll hear many questions in this further hamstringing of science-based federal policy.

5 Comments

  1. mike from iowa

    Scientific data won’t be replaced. More likely ignored in favor of a cost/benefit ratio to korporate amerika’s bottom line.

  2. mike from iowa

    Could the checkoff office now be called the Checkov office? I suspect Putin is somehow involved.

  3. grudznick

    Scientists should rule the world, but they don’t understand money. This is simply another fact of life brought to you by grudznick, and you are salty for these many facts.

  4. Roger Cornelius

    In typical republican fear of science, Trump has refused to honor this year’s winners of the Nobel Prize.
    The prestigious Nobel Prize winners were relieved that they didn’t have to meet Trump.

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