EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says the Office of Pesticide Programs will benefit from the dissolution of the Office of Research and Development, the agency’s scientific research arm. The agency said last week the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, which includes OPP, will get more than 130 employees, some of whom will work on pesticide reviews.
On Tuesday, Zeldin told farm broadcasters EPA chemicals staff had urged him to bolster chemical reviews and pesticide registrations.
“They said that if they were able to get scientists sent to them from the Office of Research and Development, that can help them in getting through this backlog that we inherited,” Zeldin said.
Zeldin also urged growers to reach out with suggestions for the recently released insecticide strategy.
“My message would be for any individual growers tout there and they read the insecticide strategy, and they have an idea for us on how to do anything better, let us know, and we’ll update. This isn’t a final document,” according to Zeldin.
