CONTACT:
Caroline Cox, NCAP, 541-344-5044 x24

Eugene, OR -- In an important victory for the public's right to know, a federal district court in Washington D.C. ruled last Friday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must stop routinely accepting manufacturers' claims that certain pesticide-related information deserves to be protected as confidential business information. In a case brought by the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP), the court stated that it "finds no evidence that the EPA has made an independent assessment" of manufacturers' confidentiality claims and that the court "cannot find that the EPA has complied with its obligations" until EPA does such an assessment.

"The case is an important step forward in NCAP's campaign to end the secrecy about the so-called inert ingredients in pesticide products." said Caroline Cox, NCAPís staff scientist. Thousands of chemicals are used as inert ingredients in pesticides. They can comprise up to 99% of a pesticide product, are rarely identified on product labels, and mostly have not been tested for health or environmental hazards. In 1996, NCAP won a legal victory that for the first time provided the opportunity, through the Freedom of Information Act, to obtain documents from EPA that identify inert ingredients. EPA was required to disclose the information unless manufacturers could demonstrate that this disclosure would hurt their businesses. 

However,  EPA routinely allowed manufacturers to claim that their justifications for this confidentiality protection were themselves confidential. "This meant that it was impossible to determine if EPA and the manufacturers were complying with the court's 1996 decision," explained Heather Brinton, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center who represented NCAP in this case. "Last Friday's decision means that it will now be possible to make sure that the law is being followed."

"Inert ingredients in pesticides are neither chemically, biologically, or toxicologically inert," added Cox. "Because we're being exposed to pesticides on nearly a daily basis, we have the right to know the identity of these chemicals. This court decision is a significant step towards reaching that goal."
 

OPINION AND ORDER

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT INERT INGREDIENTS AND NCAP'S LEGAL VICTORY

Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, a non-profit organization in Eugene, Oregon, works to protect people and the environment by advancing healthy solutions to pest problems.