Attorney General Brenna Bird Leads Coalition to Urge EPA to Change Formaldehyde Rule to Help Iowa Farmers

DES MOINES-Attorney General Brenna Bird announced today she is leading a coalition of 19 attorneys general to ask the Trump administration to fix President Biden's unworkable formaldehyde rule.

Formaldehyde ensures families have access to safe food and that farmers can protect livestock. It helps farmers defend their livestock by preventing outbreaks of bacteria, viruses, and diseases that may cause disastrous food shortages and economic losses. Under the Biden Administration, the EPA's formaldehyde mandate effectively banned formaldehyde by mandating that formaldehyde levels be beneath the background levels naturally found in many Americans' homes.

Failing to protect farmers and livestock from those threats has catastrophic consequences, with pork and poultry producers alone losing billions of dollars to disease every year. Preventing farmers from using formaldehyde also jeopardizes the safety of Iowa's eggs and puts livestock at risk for outbreaks of African swine flu and avian flu. The strict regulations will drive business overseas to foreign adversaries like China.

"Agriculture is the backbone of Iowa's economy," said Attorney General Bird. "Iowa's farmers need access to formaldehyde to protect their livestock from diseases and to continue providing safe foods at affordable prices. Iowa farmers have used formaldehyde safely for years. We are asking the EPA to look at the facts and change this rule that hurts farmers and jeopardizes the entire agriculture industry."

Iowa led the letter and was joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas.

Read the full letter here.

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For More Information:

Jen Green

[email protected]