Legislation endorsed by Pesticide Action Network, organization fighting chlorpyrifos in the courts
For Immediate Release: March 28, 2019
Washington, D.C. – A day after President Trump’s EPA once again argued for delaying its own ban of chlorpyrifos in court, Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and co-sponsors introduced the Protect Children, Families and Farmworkers from Nerve Agent Pesticides Act, legislation that would ban the neurotoxin chlorpyrifos. Pesticide Action Network announced its support for Sen. Udall’s bill.
Chlorpyrifos is a widely-used agricultural pesticide linked to reduced IQ, attention deficit disorder and other developmental damage in children. Chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate, is used on staple foods, such as strawberries, apples, citrus, broccoli, and more. Weeks after former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt met with the head of the largest manufacturer of chlorpyrifos, Dow Chemical, Pruitt falsely claimed in 2017 that the science was “unresolved” and decided EPA would study the issue until 2022.
“Under this administration, it takes judges and Congress to force our public agencies to stand up to corporate interests and do their jobs. We thank the Senators for standing up for the health of children and farmworkers,” said Pesticide Action Network Executive Director Kristin Schafer.
This week, in oral arguments before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Earthjustice attorney Patti Goldman (the environmental law organization representing labor leaders, farmworker communities, and environmental activists, including PAN, in litigation against EPA on its lack of commitment to protecting people from chlorpyrifos) argued for faster action on a nationwide ban, contending that EPA continues to sit on administrative objections to its approach to chlorpyrifos. “The Trump Administration is fighting tooth and nail for a pesticide EPA’s own scientists found unsafe to children,” Goldman said. “Make no mistake, chlorpyrifos in our food means children are needlessly eating, drinking and breathing this dreadful pesticide.”
Co-sponsors for the chlorpyrifos bill include Senator Udall with Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), and Cory A. Booker (D-N.J.)
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Contact: Ahna Kruzic, ahna@panna.org, (510) 927-5379
Pesticide Action Network works to create a just, thriving food system. PAN works alongside those on the frontlines of pesticide exposure — from farmworkers to rural communities to beekeepers. PAN links local and international consumer, labor, health, environment and agriculture groups into an international citizens’ action network. Together, we challenge the global proliferation of pesticides, defend basic rights to health and environmental quality, and work to ensure the transition to a just and viable food system.
