Sacramento, CA, Nov 15, 2018 — Today, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation recommended weak, temporary restrictions on the controversial, neurotoxic pesticide chlorpyrifos. The California restrictions direct county agriculture commissioners to prohibit the use of chlorpyrifos on certain crops and eliminate aerial spraying. But despite numerous calls from scientists, communities, and a federal appeals court to ban chlorpyrifos immediately, the new California restrictions allow most uses of the pesticide to continue.
Pre-natal exposures to chlorpyrifos are associated with lower birth weight, reduced IQ, loss of working memory, attention disorders, and delayed motor development. It is also acutely toxic to workers. A court of appeals ruled in August that Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency must ban chlorpyrifos within 60 days, based on strong scientific evidence that says this pesticide is unsafe for public health, and particularly harmful to children and farmworkers. The federal government is stalling the decision.
The following statement is from Greg Loarie, Earthjustice attorney:
“The recommended restrictions the California Department of Pesticide Regulation placed on chlorpyrifos today are weak and miss the mark. The science is overwhelming and irrefutable. Organophosphates like chlorpyrifos are simply too harmful to farmworkers, mothers, and children. As the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said in August, banning this nerve agent from our fruits and vegetables is the only way to protect vulnerable communities that suffer the impacts of pesticide exposure every day. California families deserve better.”