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EPA bans the use of chlorpyrifos as a pesticide on food crops

By Yashasvini on Aug 20, 2021 | 03:30 AM IST

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On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced a ban on the use of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide used on food crops, Environmentalists have targeted the pesticide for a long time, arguing that it poses risks to children and farmworkers.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that chlorpyrifos is used on crops such as soybeans, almond trees, grapes, broccoli, and cauliflower, and is potentially harming workers along with children.

The new regulation will initiate a six-month deadline for agricultural companies to stop using chlorpyrifos, once formally approved. Regulators will be reviewing the safety of the pesticide’s usage for nonfood applications, such as mosquito control or plant nurseries.

In April, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the EPA to ban the use of the pesticide on food if it couldn’t prove that its consumption was safe.

The EPA did initiate a ban during the Obama administration in 2015 but reversed it shortly after President Donald Trump took office in 2017. Dow Chemical Co., which introduced chlorpyrifos in 1965, had fought the EPA’s proposal.

Since then agriculture company, Corteva Inc., which came out of the Dow-DuPont breakup, started producing chlorpyrifos. A Corteva spokesperson told Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that it no longer produced chlorpyrifos.

EPA’s decision “effectively removes an important tool for farmers,” Corteva said in a statement, adding that “it appears that the rationale used by the agency is inconsistent with the complete and robust database of more than 4,000 studies and reports that have examined the product in terms of health, safety, and the environment.”

President Biden has pledged a review of more than 100 of his predecessor’s environmental regulatory actions.

Meanwhile, agrochemical groups oppose the ban citing that farmers need chemicals to fight off pests who destroy the crop.

The household usage of chlorpyrifos was banned in 2001.

AP reported that Stuart Calwell, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, was pleased with EPA’s decision but that health risks remain in areas “blanketed with chlorpyrifos for decades.”

“Today’s action won’t clean up that mess, and the danger won’t go away until someone does,” he said.
(With inputs from WSJ and AP)

Picture Credits: Shutterstock

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