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For several years, biologist Nathan Donley has worried about the future of a pesticide database run by the U.S. Geological Survey, a federal agency devoted to environmental science. The Pesticide National Synthesis Project provides information about the use of agricultural chemicals in each U.S. county, with year-by-year records dating back to 1992. At its most comprehensive, the project tracked hundreds of pesticides. In 2019, the USGS reduced the number of tracked pesticides to just 72. Then, last March, a USGS employee casually mentioned to Donley that the agency intended to stop updating its database every year, and instead update it every five years. The Harrington Seed Destructor attached to the rear of a combine, in preparation for soybean harvest. Donley was floored. “Totally blew my mind,” he recalled in a recent email. The database, Donley knew, had developed a loyal following among academic researchers, environmental nonprofits, educators, and even other federal agencies. It had also been used or cited in more than 500 peer-reviewed papers. The proposed changes, Donley worried, would hamper efforts to understand and communicate how agricultural chemicals influence human health and the environment. After hearing the USGS employee’s remark, Donley, a senior scientist at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, helped organize two open letters asking the USGS to reverse the changes. Both were published last May. One letter was signed by more than 250 scientists, and the other was signed by more than 100 environmental, farmworker, and public health organizations. Since then, scientists have continued to lobby the USGS.
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