Beekeepers struggling with massive colony collapse petitioned a court Friday to block a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency allowing wider use of a controversial insecticide particularly lethal to honeybees.

The EPA decided in July to drop restrictions on sulfoxaflor for use on about 190 million acres of U.S. cropland. The decision was made despite studies that the insecticide is “highly toxic to honeybees at all life stages” and harms wild pollinators like bumblebees even at low doses.

The Department of Agriculture just days earlier had ended its annual survey of bee colonies, so less data will be available to expose the toxin’s effect on surviving bees.

“Honeybees and other pollinators are dying in droves because of insecticides like sulfoxaflor, yet the Trump administration removes restrictions just to please the chemical industry,” charged Greg Loarie, attorney for Earthjustice, which filed the petition before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on behalf of the American Beekeeping Federation.

The court action argues that the EPA decision is “contrary to federal law and unsupported by substantial evidence.” It accuses the agency of relying too heavily on industry-funded studies when it expanded use of the pesticide.

“It is inappropriate for EPA to solely rely on industry studies to justify bringing sulfoxaflor back into our farm fields,” said Michele Colopy of the Pollinator Stewardship Council, which is also a plaintiff in the suit. “Die-offs of tens of thousands of bee colonies continue to occur and sulfoxaflor plays a huge role in this problem.”