Content Archive

In 2024, the federal Environmental Protection Agency attempted to address the risk of chemical leaks through a rule called the Safer Communities by Chemical Accident Prevention. It promised a modest course correction, requiring dangerous plants to investigate past accidents, plan for climate-fueled disasters, give workers more power to halt unsafe operations, and, in some cases, switch to safer chemicals or processes. But last month, Trump’s EPA proposed gutting most of those safeguards before they ever took effect, moving to strip away requirements for safer technologies, climate and natural disaster planning, third-party safety audits, and strong worker participation in decision making. “For fenceline communities and facility workers, this rollback is a declaration that our lives are deemed acceptable sacrifices,” said Ana Parras, executive director of Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services, a group that has worked in several national coalitions around chemical safety.

Syngenta announced that it would cease global production of the toxic herbicide paraquat by the end of June 2026, at a time when public awareness of paraquat’s harms is rising. Across the U.S., farmers and farmworkers have shared their stories of developing lifelong health conditions after being exposed to paraquat. Thousands of lawsuits are pending in U.S. courts, alleging Syngenta failed to warn people of paraquat’s documented links to Parkinson’s disease. And bills to ban or restrict paraquat have been introduced in at least twelve states. 
“It’s great to hear Syngenta is turning off the tap to a major source of paraquat to the U.S. But SinoChem’s corporate business model hasn’t changed,” said Judith Robinson, Executive Director of Coming Clean. “Its facilities will continue to pollute the air and water from the UK to Cancer Alley. Its pesticides are nearly all derived from fossil fuels that contribute to climate change. If you’re concerned for your health because paraquat has been sprayed on your food for years, you should also be concerned about the many other toxic herbicides that remain and could replace it.”

A new analysis and interactive map illustrates the real-world impacts of gutting regulations for the nation’s most hazardous chemical facilities, as recently proposed by the Trump Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Disaster Déjà Vu outlines six Texas facilities with recent histories of back-to-back chemical incidents – including fires, explosions, and worker injuries –  that are regulated by the EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP). New requirements for RMP facilities, intended to make communities safer from the threat of chemical disasters, were finalized under the Biden Administration and were slated to begin going into effect this year, until President Trump’s EPA proposed rollbacks.  These rollbacks are “a capitulation to industry demands, at the expense of public safety,” concludes the analysis, co-authored by Coming Clean, the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA), and Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (T.e.j.a.s.).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed weaker regulations for the nation’s most hazardous chemical facilities, drawing opposition from community, environmental justice, labor and environmental health groups. “This rollback will cost lives,” said Michele Roberts, National Coordinator of the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform. “EJHA affiliates refuse to continue to sacrifice their families’ health and safety for the profits of corporate polluters.”

As I continue to watch in rage at the spectacle of masked, fascist paratroopers in the streets of Minneapolis, I am reminded of the famous quote by Mohandas Gandhi:"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it – always”. Guest blog from Gary Cohen, Board Member of Coming Clean and Co-founder of Health Care Without Harm. 

Coming Clean is a national network committed to environmental health and safety for everyone, regardless of race, gender or immigration status. We condemn the ongoing and escalating violence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and agents against civilians. We stand with our members on the ground who exercise their legal rights to live, protest, and document ICE activity in their neighborhoods. ICE’s escalating violence and clear violation of civil rights threatens everyone’s health and safety.

“EPA doesn’t need to wait for new science to ban paraquat in the United States. Credible research meeting EPA’s “gold standard” tenets has already been submitted to EPA’s public docket demonstrating that exposure to paraquat causes harm to farmworkers, farmers, and rural communities, and that its continued registration for use poses an unreasonable risk to these communities. Study after study has shown that people who use or are exposed to paraquat are more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease and other adverse health conditions. The evidence of harm is strong enough that over 70 countries have already banned this toxic pesticide from use. Meanwhile, EPA has declined to review this evidence. Now, by suggesting that we need to wait for “accurate new studies [to] reveal additional risk,” EPA is attempting to push the regulatory reset button to buy chemical corporations profiting from paraquat sales more time.