Protect America's Children from Toxic Pesticides Act

The Protect America’s Children from Toxic Pesticides Act (S. 269) would significantly overhaul how the federal government regulates and bans hazardous chemicals used in agriculture and landscaping. The bill would immediately ban several specific classes of pesticides—including organophosphates, neonicotinoids, and paraquat—and require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to automatically suspend any pesticide that has already been banned by the European Union or Canada.

For citizens and workers, the bill aims to increase safety by requiring the disclosure of all ingredients on product labels, including "inert" chemicals that are currently kept secret. It also establishes new reporting requirements for farmworker pesticide poisonings and grants private citizens the right to sue the EPA if the agency fails to enforce these updated safety standards. If passed, the legislation would end the practice of allowing companies to sell off remaining stocks of pesticides after they have been deemed unsafe for the market.