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Court Orders EPA to Ban Pesticide Harmful to Children and Birds Within 60 Days
Last year the agency revoked a proposed ban on chlorpyrifos, which causes brain damage, against the recommendation of its own science.
By Jillian Mock
August 10, 2018
Yesterday the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to ban chlorpyrifos, a common insecticide linked to neurological damage in both people and wildlife, following a confounding 2017 decision by former EPA head Scott Pruitt to revoke a proposed ban, drawing immediate and widespread criticism.
For decades, the EPA has known of the harms caused by the organophosphate pesticide, which targets the nervous system and disrupts signals in the brain. In 1998 the agency banned indoor use of chlorpyrifos over fears of the effects of cumulative exposure to infants and children. Indeed, studies and reviews by EPA scientists linked the pesticide to delayed physical and mental development in children, including lower IQ, attention problems, and delayed motor development, as well as to adverse impacts on virtually all species listed under the Endangered Species Act. Yet in 2015 more than five million pounds of the pesticide were applied to food crops like grapes, soybeans, wheat, and corn, according to the USGS agricultural pesticide database.
The court has now given the EPA 60 days to ban chlorpyrifos. The agency says it is reviewing the court’s decision and continues to insist there is not enough data to declare the pesticide a threat to human health. The court also reprimanded the EPA for failing to act earlier and denying the dangers posed by this chemical.
“There was no justification for the EPA’s decision in its 2017 order to maintain a tolerance for chlorpyrifos in the face of scientific evidence that its residue on food causes neurodevelopmental damage to children,” judges Jacqueline Nguyen and Jed Rakoff write in the 2-to-1 court opinion. “In such circumstances, federal law commands that the EPA ban such a pesticide from use on food products.” Judge Ferdinand Fernandez dissented on jurisdictional grounds.
More:
https://www.audubon.org/news/court-orders-epa-ban-pesticide-harmful-children-and-birds-within-60-days
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