"The recent lawsuits filed against Corteva Inc. and Dow Chemical Co. in California are the beginning of an expected wave of toxic tort cases in the Golden State that take aim at the widely-used insecticide chlorpyrifos.
More than 80 lawsuits will be filed in four Central Valley Superior courts in coming weeks, and another 200 are being evaluated, said Stuart Calwell, an attorney with the West Virginia firm Calwell Luce diTrapano PLLC. They will focus on the insecticide, as well as the compound it converts into and its health effects on children.
The lawsuits could represent the next big agriculture-related toxic tort case, following the path of glyphosate, the Monsanto—now Bayer AG—weedkiller that is at the center of thousands of cases across the U.S., said Clifford Pascarella, a defense attorney with CMBG3 Law in Boston."
Emily C. Dooley reports for Bloomberg Environment October 29, 2020.