WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its withdrawal of all food uses of chlorpyrifos. This announcement follows the 9th Circuit Court’s May 2021 order to withdraw all uses of chlorpyrifos in food production that cannot be proven safe.
Kristin Schafer, Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Executive Director, issued the following statement in response to EPA’s decision:
“Together with partners across the country, we’re celebrating this decision that protects the health of millions of children, farmworkers, and rural families — and is long overdue. Science documenting the harms of this neurotoxic chemical has been strong for decades. It took persistent organizing, advocacy in statehouses, and coordinated legal action to finally force EPA to do its job.
“Our understanding is that today’s action will also result in a ban of chlorpyrifos use on commodity crops grown for feed, and in the coming months, EPA will consider action on all remaining (non-food) uses of chlorpyrifos as well. We urge the agency to also quickly withdraw these uses, so we can join the 35 countries that have already fully banned this dangerous chemical.
“We’re hopeful that today’s decision signals a shift for this Administration, toward re-centering science and justice in decision-making about dangerous pesticides. For too long the pesticide industry’s interests have been prioritized over protecting children’s health or the health of those on the frontlines of industrial agriculture — farmworkers, farmers, and rural families. It’s time for this to change.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate insecticide, acaricide and miticide used primarily to control foliage and soil-borne insect pests.
In August 2021, EPA released a final rule revoking all “tolerances” for chlorpyrifos, which establish an amount of a pesticide that is allowed on food. Read a prepublication version of the final rule: Chlorpyrifos; Tolerance Revocations (pdf) . In addition, the agency will issue a Notice of Intent to Cancel under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to cancel registered food uses of chlorpyrifos associated with the revoked tolerances.
Thoughts Beyond The Armida Trilogy–“Aryan” Nazis
Did you know that the term “Nazi” (short for “Nationalsozialist”) was considered derisory even when the Nazi Party grew out of smaller political groups with a nationalist orientation that formed in the last years of World War I? Truly, and the three novels of the Armida Trilogy did not shy away from making reference to their…
Tasso’s GERUSALEMME LIBERATA and “Armida”
Imagine a protagonist named Armida inspired 18 operas entitled “Armida” and their composers, ranging from the 17th to the 21st centuries. Most operas focus on the character of said name while others focus on her relationship with the Crusader knight named Rinaldo. There was even a film and a ballet, not to mention many paintings.…
Book Two – Choir of Cloistered Canaries
A retiring CDC epidemiologist reunites with her estranged mother and is swept from a secretive lab in North Carolina to Rome, where science, mythology, and a surprising papal alliance ignite a transnational fight for environmental justice and moral stewardship. Choir of Cloistered Canaries – Book Two (2020) is a thought-provoking, multi-layered novel that fuses epidemiology…
…
This action will also be incorporated into the ongoing registration review for chlorpyrifos. EPA is continuing to review the comments submitted on the chlorpyrifos proposed interim decision, draft revised human health risk assessment, and draft ecological risk assessment. These documents are available in the chlorpyrifos registration review docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0850 at www.regulations.gov.
Armida Nagy Rose Author 