It’s been a chaotic few days for chlorpyrifos, and several state and federal agencies are taking totally different stances on the pesticide’s use.
Just days after the California Department of Pesticide Regulation announced on Sept. 19 a proposed regulation that would further restrict the use of chlorpyrifos on California crops, the U.S. Department of Justice announced plans to fight a court-ordered, nationwide ban on the pesticide.
“Chlorpyrifos helps farmers and consumers by improving production efficiency and contributing to public health and safety,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue wrote in a statement praising the Department of Justice’s decision on Sept. 24. “The arbitrary, immediate, and total loss of this crop protection tool endangers agricultural industries and is expected to have wide economic impacts.”
On Aug. 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban the use of chlorpyrifos within 60 days of the ruling.
The order came as a welcomed triumph for some national and local environmental and human rights advocacy organizations, including Central Coast United for A Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), which has been fighting to get the pesticide banned for years because of its links to adverse health effects in humans and animals.
“Chlorpyrifos is too often used in agricultural fields next to our children’s schools and in fields where women farmworkers often work during their pregnancies, endangering the health of our community,” CAUSE wrote in a statement released Aug. 10 after the court order.
Still, Perdue said the federal court’s ruling was based on an “incorrect assessment of the scientific evidence,” and he thanked the Department of Justice for its decision to request a rehearing on the ban.
Chlorpyrifos, a chemical insecticide used on California nut trees, fruit, vegetable, and grain crops to kill mites and other insects, was banned from household use in 2000, and an EPA health risk assessment of the pesticide published in 2016 found that exposure to it could potentially cause serious, lasting health issues.
Studies conducted by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation also found that chlorpyrifos may act as a “toxic air contaminant,” and that excessive exposure to chlorpyrifos in the air could cause nausea, dizziness, respiratory paralysis, and developmental disorders. Exposure to the pesticide in water, according to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, may be toxic to fish, aquatic invertebrates, and marine organisms.
In December 2017, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment listed chlorpyrifos as a Proposition 65 Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant. And last month, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s scientific review panel listed chlorpyrifos as a toxic air contaminant.
On Sept. 19, the Department of Pesticide Regulation announced a proposed regulation that would officially and legally mark chlorpyrifos as a toxic air contaminant, which could lead to further restrictions on its use in California, according to Charlotte Fadipe, assistant director of communications for the Department of Pesticide Regulation.
The toxic air contaminant listing process includes a 45-day public comment period on the proposed decision, which began on Sept. 21. Public comment closes on Nov. 9, and the Department of Pesticide Regulation expects chlorpyrifos to be a designated toxic air contaminant by 2019.
Community members can submit written comments to dpr18002@cdpr.ca.gov.
This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 4, 2018.
