Government Providing $1B to Study Impact of Crop Protection Tools

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with USDA and the EPA, announced over $1 billion to study the impact of “cumulative chemical exposures” on human health.  The agencies are also looking to eventually reduce reliance on “chemical crop protection tools.”

HHS is contributing $200 million toward this effort, of which $100 million will be spent on a grand prize challenge for researchers to identify creative solutions for evaluating the exposure, diagnosis, and treatments of cumulative chemical exposures on individual health. The other $100 million from HHS will be put towards developing new technologies to reduce reliance on chemical crop protection tools in order to improve human health.

USDA is committing $840 million, with $700 million of that going toward regenerative agriculture projects. The EPA is also providing $30 million for finding alternatives to the pre-harvest desiccation use of pesticides.

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