California court orders end to sulfoxaflor use

Abstract

The pesticide sulfoxaflor can no longer be used on crops in California, a state superior court ruled Dec. 3 . The decision is a win for beekeepers and environmental groups, which challenged California’s approval of agricultural uses for sulfoxaflor in 2020. The groups claimed that the state’s Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) violated state environmental law by failing to consider the chemical’s adverse impacts on bees. The court agreed with the petitioners, represented by the environmental law group Earthjustice, that the DPR violated state law when it approved sulfoxaflor pesticides, which are produced by Corteva Agriscience, formerly Dow AgroSciences. Sulfoxaflor targets the same nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in insects as do neonicotinoid pesticides, which have been under scrutiny for their ability to harm bees. Both sulfoxaflor and neonicotinoids are systemic insecticides, meaning they are taken up by plants and distributed throughout plant tissues. Both are harmful to bees at low doses.