Daily News Archive
From
February 15, 2001
EPA Issues Misleading
Notice to Retailers On Chlorpyrifos
EPA has issued a notice to retailers regarding the sale of pesticide products containing the organophosphate insecticide chlorpyrifos, often sold as Dursban. The notice is a follow-up to the June 8, 2000 EPA announcement on an agreement with the pesticide's manufacturers to phase out and eliminate some uses of chlorpyrifos, currently one of the most widely used insecticides in the United States. The agreement allows the over-the-counter sale of chlorpyrifos to continue, despite its known toxicity until December 31, 2001, and for other uses, like termite control, for years to come.
The EPA notice provides information for retailers to make decisions about purchasing stocks of these chlorpyrifos products and what to do with inventories remaining after December 31, 2001. However, many environmentalists are concerned that EPA's instructions on what retailers should tell customers about the safety of chlorpyrifos while it is still legal to sell to the public. According to the notice retailers are to tell customers that "Use of these (chlorpyrifos) products according to label directions does not pose an immediate hazard." Many feel that this statement gives the public a false sense of security.
A 1996 study of children
exposed to chlorpyrifos in utero found extensive and unusual patterns
of birth defects, including damage to the brain, nervous system, eyes
ears palate, teeth, heart, feet and genitalia. Published literature and
EPA documents have found similar effects. According to US News and World
Report, since 1992, pesticide manufacturers have sent approximately 7,000
reports of chlorpyrifos-induced reactions to EPA. Like all organophosphates,
chlorpyrifos is known to be neurotoxic.