The court holds that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) does not preempt a California city's comprehensive municipal environmental response and liability ordinance. An insurer challenged the constitutionality of the ordinance. The court first dismisses...
The court holds that although the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts a consumer's labeling claims, it does not preempt her defective packaging claim. The consumer brought suit against a pool company after she suffered burning sensations in her lungs and throat and h...
The court upholds the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) revised standard for the manner and conditions of use for respiratory protection in the workplace. A group representing the iron and steel industry and a group representing doctors separately challenged the revised standa...
The court holds that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts an employee's state-law claims against her employer regarding the labeling of pesticides, but FIFRA does not preempt state-law claims regarding the packaging of the pesticides. The employee alleged that she...
The quest by law abiding pesticide registrants for relief from illegally registered pesticides has taken a new turn. Tacitly acknowledging the futility of urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to initiate enforcement action against bad actors, registrants are now, in epidemic proportion, taking their case to EPA in the form of filing administrative petitions to revoke and/or cancel Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) registrations issued to competitors and alleged to be obtained illegally.
This Article considers the extent to which the United States has made progress in the management of chemicals and pesticides in light of the commitments it made in 1992 to promote sustainable development. While pesticides are types of chemicals, they are managed differently and this Article will employ the legal distinctions between the two. The term "chemicals" refers to substances that are manufactured, processed, or used in commerce, other than those marketed as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, or food additives.
Editors' Summary: When Congress passed the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA), many in the press announced that this law effectively repealed the Delaney Clause, which they claimed had banned all traces of cancer-causing pesticides in processed foods. This Article analyzes what the FQPA actually did. It begins by describing the history of the Delaney Clause. The clause appears in three statutes, most famously in the food-additive provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).
On June 7, 2000, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reached an agreement with the basic manufacturers of chlorpyrifos to reduce potential risks from exposure to residues from pesticide products containing chlorpyrifos. More commonly known by the trade names Dursban and Lorsban, chlorpyrifos is the most commonly used pesticide in and around homes in the United States.
Editors' Summary: CERCLA and the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) create causes of action for damages to natural resources—for damages "resulting from" a release or threatened release of a hazardous substance, in the case of CERCLA, and for damages that "result from" a discharge or threatened discharge of oil in the case of the OPA. Thus, natural resource damages actions under these acts require a causal link between the release or discharge and the natural resource damage at issue.