Food Safety
Agricultural Law Weekly Review – October 10, 2019
On September 30, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced a one-year extension for farmers to replace livestock sold in response to severe drought conditions. According to Notice 2006-82, qualifying sales are limited to livestock owned for draft, dairy, or breeding purposes. The livestock must have been sold entirely on account of drought, and the farmer or rancher must have qualified for the four-year replacement period. Farmers in applicable regions may now delay replacing livestock until the end of the tax year following the “first drought-free year” and may also defer capital […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review – September 19, 2019
On September 12, 2019, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced the repeal of the 2015 Clean Water Act rule defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). According to EPA, the repeal of the 2015 rule is the first step in its two-step approach to redefine WOTUS and clearly distinguish between federally regulated and state-controlled waters. For the second step, EPA proposed a new WOTUS definition in December 2018 (84 FR 4154). The final rule will become active after 60 days once published in the Federal Register. For further […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—August 15, 2019
Pesticides: EPA Will Not Approve Labels Asserting that Glyphosate Causes Cancer
On August 8, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a press release stating that the agency “will no longer approve product labels claiming glyphosate is known to cause cancer.” According to EPA, such claims are false and as such do “not meet the labeling requirements of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.” EPA’s statement is a direct reaction to California’s Proposition 65 which requires an established list of chemicals determined by the state to “cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.” If a chemical is on the list, […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—August 8, 2019
Pesticides: California Couple Agrees to Reduced Roundup Damage Award
On July 26, 2019, Plaintiffs Alva and Alberta Pilliod agreed to reduce a jury award from over $2 billion to over $86 million for alleged harm caused by Monsanto Company’s glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup (Pilliod, et al. v. Monsanto Company, et al. Case No RG17862702). The Pilliods alleged that exposure to Roundup caused them both to develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. On May 13, 2019, a California jury found that Monsanto Company’s actions regarding its product Roundup entitled Mr. Pilliod to over $37 million for economic and noneconomic loss and $1 billion in punitive […]
