"Farmers use chlorpyrifos, linked to neurological damage in young children, on crops such as grapes, broccoli and strawberries"
"The Environmental Protection Agency will ban the use of a pesticide widely applied on food crops but linked to neurological damage in children, reversing one of the Trump administration’s most fraught public health decisions.
The final rule released Wednesday will put a stop to the spraying of chlorpyrifos on fruits and vegetables across the country, to protect the health of both farmworkers dispersing the pesticide and children eating produce treated with it.
The move to curtail use of the potent insect-killing chemical on food overturns a 2017 decision by then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to keep the pesticide on the market despite a recommendation by the agency’s scientists to restrict it, given its potential risks.
“This comes after more than a decade of science in which it became pretty clear that there were potential neurodevelopmental effects on children that were being observed at lower levels than people had previously thought,” Michal Freedhoff, the EPA’s top official for chemical safety and pollution prevention, said in a phone interview."
Dino Grandoni reports for the Washington Post August 18, 2021.
SEE ALSO:
"E.P.A. to Block Pesticide Tied to Neurological Harm in Children" (New York Times)
"EPA to Ban Pesticide Chlorpyrifos From Use on Food Crops" (Bloomberg Environment)
"EPA Will Ban A Farming Pesticide Linked To Health Problems In Children" (NPR)
"EPA To Ban Food Use Of Pesticide Linked To Brain Damage" (E&E News)
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