EPA ditches Trump-era plans on pesticide safety zones

By Marc Heller | 10/02/2024 01:30 PM EDT

The Biden administration’s final rule returns farmworker standards to Obama-era rules.

Farmer wearing protective clothes spraying apples with pesticides

The Biden administration finalized new rules aiming to reduce pesticide exposure. Shutterstock

EPA said Wednesday it’s expanding measures to protect people from pesticide exposure on and around farms, over objections from farm groups and state agriculture officials.

The environmental agency said the restrictions, published in a final rule, kept regulations largely what they were before the Trump administration proposed changes seen as more friendly to industry.

At issue is an “application exclusion zone” where people other than a farmer’s immediate family members, for instance, aren’t allowed when pesticides are being applied.

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The regulations announced Wednesday set updated distances for the zones and clarify that the zones can extend beyond the farm’s boundary, a provision opposed by the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. The stipulations take effect in two months.

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