Court Orders EPA To Ban Pesticide Linked To Brain Damage In Kids
- 6 years ago
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to ban a widely used pesticide. The pesticide has been linked to learning disabilities in children.
The Huffington Post reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the EPA offered “no defense” of its decision to delay a ban on chlorpyrifos.
The decision is a major blow to former EPA chief Scott Pruitt who refused to take the pesticide off the market.
Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate insecticide that has been used on crops such as broccoli to cranberries since the 1960s. In 2015, the EPA proposed permanently banning the chemical on food crops, citing potential risks to human health. But in March 2017, Pruitt reversed plans to ban the chemical.