For half a century, staple food crops in the United States — such as corn, wheat, apples and citrus — have been sprayed with chlorpyrifos, a dangerous pesticide that can damage the developing brains of children , causing reduced IQ, loss of working memory, and attention deficit disorders. Earthjustice, among other groups, has pushed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban chlorpyrifos, as it is known to harm human health, water, and wildlife . The U.S. EPA was expected to make a decision in 2017. But two days before the court-ordered deadline, the agency reversed its own proposal and refused to ban the pesticide . After years of work in the courts, Earthjustice attorneys presented oral arguments, on behalf of our clients, at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals en banc re-hearing on Mar. 26, 2019, arguing that chlorpyrifos must be banned from all food uses. Within a month, the Ninth Circuit issued its ruling, ordering the U.S. EPA to decide by Jul. 18 whether to ban chlorpyrifos. The agency announced it would allow the brain-damaging pesticide to stay in our fruits and vegetables. “It is a tragedy that this administration sides with corporations instead of children’s health. But […]
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