Chlorpyrifos, a widely-used pesticide on food crops –including those consumed by infants, young children, and pregnant women – negatively impacts development and functioning of the central nervous system and brain, according to seven attorneys general who are challenging its continued use.
“The EPA’s first job is ensuring the health and safety of New Yorkers and all Americans – especially our children,” New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said Tuesday. “Yet the Trump administration is jeopardizing our children's health by allowing continued exposure to this toxic pesticide at levels it has not found to be safe.”
Joining Schneiderman in the challenge are the attorneys general of California, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington, and Vermont. They charge that the Environmental Protection Agency failed to make a key safety finding needed to continue to allow levels of chlorpyrifos on fruits and vegetables.
Federal law requires the EPA to revoke allowable levels – or “tolerances” – for pesticide residues on foods if the agency isn’t able to determine that the levels are safe.
The public health dangers of chlorpyrifos are well documented, with EPA’s own scientists twice being unable to identify a safe level for the pesticide on food, Schneiderman said.
In November 2015 and November 2016, the EPA issued proposed regulations to revoke all tolerances and no longer allow chlorpyrifos to be used on food.
However, in one of his first official acts, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt disregarded those proposals and decades of scientific evidence and – citing “uncertainty” in chlorpyrifos’ toxicity – issued an order putting off until October 2022 or later, any decision on whether to revoke or modify current food tolerances for the pesticide.
Chlorpyrifos is used on apples, strawberries, cherries, bananas, pears, peaches, and nectarines. Residues of the pesticide have repeatedly been found in baby foods and juices, he said.
Chlorpyrifos has been under regulatory review for nearly 20 years.
The pesticide acts by inhibiting an enzyme that is key to the proper development and functioning of the central nervous system and brain. Columbia University studies show that children born to women exposed to chlorpyrifos during pregnancy had cognitive and motor development delays in the first three years; structural changes in the brain and lower working memory and IQ scores at age seven; and movement disorders, including arm tremors, at age 11.
In 2007, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Pesticide Action Network North America filed a petition with the EPA requesting cancellation of chlorpyrifos food tolerances. The groups later sued the EPA to force action on the petition.
In 2015 and 2016, the EPA issued notices of proposed rulemaking to revoke all tolerances for the pesticide on food because the agency was unable to identify a safe level of chlorpyrifos. The 2016 notice stated “EPA can only retain chlorpyrifos tolerances if it is able to conclude that such tolerances are safe.”
Despite the EPA’s finding that it couldn’t find the current chlorpyrifos food tolerances safe, on March 29, 2017, about a month after his confirmation, Pruitt issued an order changing the agency’s position on the proposed regulations and denying the petition by environmental groups to revoke the current tolerances for chlorpyrifos. That leaves the tolerances in place indefinitely.
The coalition of attorneys general contends that the EPA doesn’t have the authority to leave tolerances in place without a finding of safety.
The coalition’s challenge, which was filed with the EPA, requests that the agency vacate its recent order that left chlorpyrifos residue tolerances in effect without finding them safe and issue a regulation revoking tolerances for chlorpyrifos on food.
