EPA Responds to NRDC's 2008 Freedom of Information Act Complaint on Clothianidin
Status Update: EPA produced thousands of pages of regulatory records and environmental effects data in response to NRDC's 2008 Freedom of Information Act request discussed below. There was never a court order requiring production. NRDC's case was dismissed by stipulation on October 27, 2009.
News articles in 2008, which were based on a complaint made by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), challenged EPAs integrity with regard to providing information as required by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The articles also inaccurately portrayed our efforts to protect bees.
EPA puts a high priority on all FOIA requests. Any public statements that indicate EPA is "refusing to disclose records" are erroneous. The Office of Pesticide Programs operates in the public eye and values stakeholder participation as it carries out its important mission to protect public health and the environment.
Regarding our efforts to protect bees, we were working on multiple fronts to address pollinator protection through regulatory, voluntary, and research programs long before the phenomenon of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) was documented. An extensive amount of information is publicly available regarding this issue and, in particular, the pesticide clothianidin, which was the subject of NRDCs FOIA request.
Please see our response to NRDC's public statements about EPA's pesticide program and protection of bees.
For additional information:
- Clothianidin Data Evaluation Reports
- FOIA Docket containing clothianidin regulatory files
- Registration Division docket for Clothianidin risk assessments in 2006
- Registration Division docket for Clothianidin risk assessments in 2007
- Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder
- USDA CCD Action Plan(28 pp, 2MB, About PDF)