EPA announces it will ban chlorpyrifos, pesticide linked to brain damage in children
After years of litigation and controversy, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Wednesday that it would move to ban use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos on food crops. Under the Trump administration, the agency repeatedly declined to prohibit its use, despite the epidemiological research linking the chemical to brain damage in children. After the 2020 election, environmental and worker advocates hoped that the White House would reinstate Obama-era bans on pesticides. For what it’s worth, use of chlorpyrifos has been waning for years, and the biggest manufacturer of the chemical had already stopped producing it by the end of 2020, making this week’s news somewhat of a nail in the coffin.
