22
Jul
EPA Allows Continued Use of Neurotoxic Insecticide Chlorpyrifos on American Food
(Beyond Pesticides, July 22, 2019) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will permit the continued use of a known neurotoxic insecticide on the food the Americans eat, the agency announced yesterday in response to a lawsuit filed by public health groups. Health advocates say the move to continue chlorpyrifos use is the latest example of the agency working to protect the profits of industry over the health of Americans.
“By allowing chlorpyrifos to stay in our fruits and vegetables, Trump’s EPA is breaking the law and neglecting the overwhelming scientific evidence that this pesticide harms children’s brains,” said Patti Goldman, an attorney for Earthjustice. “It is a tragedy that this administration sides with corporations instead of children’s health.”
Under a lawsuit filed in the 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals, EPA had 90 days to provide a justification for why the pesticide should remain on the market. EPA denied the petition yesterday, and rather than providing positive justification for continued use of the chemical, attacked the sound science claimants urged the agency to consider as “not…valid, complete, and reliable.”
In the absence of EPA action, several states are leading in the protection of their residents by rejecting the agency’s determination regarding the safety of chlorpyrifos, and banning its use. Two years ago, Hawaii became the first state to take action through a phase-out that completely eliminates all use of the chemical by 2022. Legislation passed in New York earlier this year would leapfrog Hawaii’s phase out period, halting all use of the chemical by December 2021 (Residents of New York are encouraged to contact Governor Cuomo’s office and urge him to sign the ban bill that has been sitting on his desk).
In California, a state with heavy chlorpyrifos use, regulators became the first to eliminate use of the chemical through the rulemaking process, as state lawmakers have so far failed to enact restrictions.
“Every day we go without a ban, children and farmworkers are eating, drinking and breathing a pesticide linked to intellectual and learning disabilities and poisonings,” said the 12 plaintiff organizations challenging the 2017 decision. “We will continue to fight until chlorpyrifos is banned and children and farmworkers are safe from this dangerous chemical.”
Chlorpyrifos damages fetal brains and produces cognitive and behavioral dysfunctions, particularly in children. Prenatal and early life exposure to chlorpyrifos is linked to lower birth weight and neurodevelopmental harms, including reduced IQ, loss of working memory, attention disorders, and delayed motor development. Farmworkers are at heightened risk of acute exposure effects of the chemical (including accidents and spills), which can cause respiratory paralysis and even death.
While EPA determined nearly 20 years ago that the chemical should not be used in residential areas, it maintained uses on food crops, where even low levels of residues on food can end up harming children’s health. For a timeline on the history of chlorpyrifos regulation, see this previous Daily News article.
As EPA’s inaction on the chemical reveals, people in the U.S. cannot continue to rely on an agency whose Administrator holds secret meetings with pesticide registrants like Dow Chemical and, as a result, makes determinations that are not protective of children’s health. Work to ban chlorpyrifos and other neurotoxic insecticides by contacting your state’s Governor and urging them to follow the lead of Hawaii, New York, and California. To fight chlorpyrifos use every day, help support an agricultural system that does not rely on the chemical or any other highly toxic WW2-era organophosphate pesticides by buying organic whenever possible.
All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.
Source: EPA release, EarthJustice Press Release
