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Beveridge & Diamond sues US for atrazine docs
Story Date: 10/15/2010
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Source: Law 360, 10/8/10
Beveridge & Diamond PC has sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for access to scientific studies that may persuade environmental regulators to impose new restrictions on Syngenta AG’s controversial pesticide atrazine.
The environmental law firm filed a Freedom of Information Act suit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to put the screws on HHS and force disclosure of research that ties atrazine to health problems in animals.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently conducting a comprehensive review of atrazine amid concerns that the widely used pesticide endangers public health. The agency is looking into whether the pesticide, which finds its way into drinking water, causes cancer, birth defects and other health problems.
Beveridge & Diamond, which serves clients in the pesticide industry, resorted to legal action after HHS’ National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences failed to hand over data one of its scientists provided to the EPA.
Dr. Suzanne Fenton’s research links low-levels atrazine exposure to prostate inflammation in male rats and delayed puberty, which could convince regulators to impose new restrictions on the pesticide. It is already banned in the European Union.
The NIEHS has been unresponsive to Beveridge & Diamond’s request for Fenton’s research and correspondence for the atrazine studies, which the EPA will continue to address at an additional meeting scheduled in the first half of 2011, according to the complaint.
“It is critical that NIEHS promptly provide the requested information to allow for meaningful and appropriate public review and analysis of this information,” the complaint said.
Syngenta, meanwhile, has criticized the EPA for rushing its re-evaluation of atrazine and paying more heed to political pressure than firm science. In September the company issued a press release faulting the agency for failing to provide enough time for a balanced review of the pesticide.
“EPA should not be focused on an arbitrary 2011 timeline for making a regulatory decision about the future of a critically important agricultural product. Instead, EPA needs to continue regulating atrazine using rigorous science, not political expediency.”
The groundswell of opposition to atrazine includes the March filing of a class action that aims to force Syngenta to pay for the removal of the allegedly toxic pesticide from public water supplies.
A group of 15 Midwestern cities and towns that have been forced to filter drinking water claims Syngenta sold atrazine to farmers knowing that it would contaminate public water supplies.
An attorney at Beveridge & Diamond could not be reached for comment Friday, nor could representatives for Syngenta and the NIEHS be reached to discuss the matter.
Beveridge & Diamond is represented by the firm’s David Barker and Kathryn Szmuszkovic.
The case is Beveridge & Diamond PC v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services et al., case number 1:10-cv-01713, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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