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 The agency denied the petition by a dozen environmental groups, led
by Earthjustice, to ban the pesticide. They said studies show that
exposures to the pesticide is liked to low birth weight, reduced IQ,
attention disorders and other issues in infants and children.
The Obama administration's EPA had banned the use of chlorpyrifos in
2015 after it decided it could not be certain whether exposure to
the chemical in food and water would be harmful. But Trump's first
EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, reversed that decision in 2017,
prompting an ongoing legal battle.
In April, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the
EPA had until mid-July to decide whether to reverse Pruitt’s
overturn of the ban on chlorpyrifos.
The pesticide is made by Corteva Agriscience, formerly part of
DowDuPont. "We are committed to working with the Agency as it seeks
to make an accurate assessment and, if necessary, reduce potential
exposures, while also ensuring that growers for whom chlorpyrifos is
a critical tool can continue to use the product safely," said Gregg
Schmidt, a spokesman for the firm, in an email to Reuters.
In its denial order submitted to the court, the EPA's assistant
administrator for chemicals said the agency denied all of the
objections listed by the environmental groups and said there was not
enough evidence to link exposure to chlorpyrifos to children's
health issues.
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"After reviewing the objections, EPA has determined that the
objections related to Petition claims regarding neurodevelopmental
toxicity must be denied because the objections and the underlying
Petition are not supported by valid, complete, and reliable evidence
sufficient to meet the Petitioners’ burden," wrote Alexandra
Dapolito Dunn, assistant administrator for chemical safety.
The denial also said that chlorpyrifos is "currently the only
cost-effective choice for control of certain insect pests."
The environmental groups said on Thursday they will continue to
fight the decision until chlorpyrifos is banned.
“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,” the groups said in a joint
statement.
Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, said current
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler ignored the advice of EPA
scientists who supported a ban.
“If the Trump administration had followed the advice of its
scientists, chlorpyrifos likely would not be in the food and milk
kids eat and drink today,” he said.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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