Advocacy groups sue EPA over approval of ‘forever chemical’

(CN) — Two nonprofits filed a lawsuit Thursday against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after its November 2025 approval of a “forever chemical” used as an insecticide.

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety oppose the agency and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin with a petition for review in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The groups claim the EPA’s approval of isocycloseram — a chemical compound included in a group of long-lasting PFAS, or per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances — is harmful to the environment and potentially cancer-causing.

The pesticide is formulated to control bed bugs, cockroaches, termites and crop pests in golf courses, lawns and agriculture, including crops such as lettuce, spinach, broccoli, apples and oranges.

Nathan Donley, the environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the target market for the bug killer is everyone, including single-family homes, municipalities responsible for public spaces and farmers with large-scale crops.

“A big part of this approval is for the agricultural sector,” he said in an email to Courthouse News.

In an EPA memorandum, isocycloseram was noted to lower sperm count, reduce testicle size and hurt the liver in animal studies sponsored by Syngenta, the product’s manufacturer.

The insecticide is one of a growing number of compounds known to be highly toxic to bees and other pollinators. Furthermore, according to a statement by the Center for Biological Diversity, the EPA estimates the insecticide will have harmful effects on approximately 1,000 threatened and endangered species.

“Approval of this dangerous pesticide spotlights how the industry puppet masters running the EPA chemicals office are making a mockery of chemical oversight,” said Donley. “We’re going to fight like hell to make sure these forever pesticides aren’t allowed to poison our grandchildren’s grandchildren.”

Donley said the advocacy organizations are asking the court to vacate the approval, which would cancel all uses of the pesticide and make it illegal to use or sell in the U.S.

The nonprofits claim isocycloseram was approved after Kyle Kunkler, a former lobbyist for the American Soybean Association, was hired as the deputy assistant administrator for pesticides in the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.

“In keeping with longstanding practice, EPA does not comment on current or pending litigation," an EPA spokesperson told Courthouse News in an email.

“However, we can comment on how the Trump EPA is committed to tackling PFAS and protecting children’s health. Armed with gold-standard science, we are Making America Healthy Again, carrying out our core mission of protecting human health and the environment.”

The EPA disputes the label “forever chemical” on isocycloseram, saying it is a single fluorinated compound, and therefore safe to use. The nonprofits contend the compound breaks down into other PFAS and will always be a problem.

“EPA rubber-stamped the manufacturer’s junk science, ignoring the risk of cancer, birth defects and environmental harms of this hazardous insecticide,” Bill Freese, science director at Center for Food Safety, said in a statement.

“The only value ‘regulation’ of this sort has is to pesticide makers, helping them deceive the public with false assurances of safety.”

Freese told Courthouse News the EPA’s pesticide division has been “captured” by the pesticide industry.

“I know of no example of EPA not approving a pesticide proposed by industry,” he said.“At best, EPA requires ineffectual advisory language on the pesticide label and weak restrictions on use that are often violated and difficult to enforce.”