Some beautiful corn in Amish country Pennsylvania: Glynn Wilson

By Glynn Wilson –

A coalition of six state attorneys general have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco against the Trump Environmental Protection Agency for continuing to allow the widely used pesticide chlorpyrifos on crops that end up contaminating common foods and endangering the neurological development of pregnant women, infants and children.

The coalition, joined this week by Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh, is challenging EPA’s decision to continue to allow chlorpyrifos in food, even though it has not made a current finding, as required by law, that this pesticide contamination is safe.

“Chlorpyrifos is dangerous to kids. EPA continues to allow industry to feed children this poison,” Attorney General Frosh said in his announcement to join the lawsuit. “Our coalition is determined to get this toxic chemical off the menu.”

A widely used pesticide on food crops patented by Dow Chemical in 1966, chlorpyrifos is used to keep worms and other insects from destroying fruits and vegetables, including corn, almonds, oranges, bananas and apples. These crops are regularly consumed by unsuspecting pregnant women and young children, even though it is is well-documented to harm proper development and functioning of the central nervous system and brain.

Chlorpyrifos is considered “moderately hazardous” to humans by the World Health Organization based on its acute toxicity.

In fact, EPA’s own scientists have twice been unable to identify a safe level for the pesticide on food, Frosh said.

EPA estimated that, between 1987 and 1998, about 21 million pounds of chlorpyrifos were used annually in the US. In 2001, chlorpyrifos ranked 15th among pesticides used in the U.S., with an estimated 8 to 11 million pounds applied. In 2007, it ranked 14th among pesticide ingredients used in agriculture in the U.S.

In November 2015 and again in November 2016, EPA issued proposed regulations to revoke all allowable levels, or “tolerances,” and no longer allow chlorpyrifos to be used on food crops. It has already been phased out in the U.S. for residential use on pests such as termites and cockroaches.

In one of his first official acts, however, then EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt disregarded the proposals to ban its use — and decades of scientific evidence amassed by the EPA — issuing an order putting off the decision to regulate it in food crops until October 2022.

Of course Pruitt was forced to resign from the EPA in July 2018 in the wake of overwhelming bad publicity for his involvement in several ethics scandals.

The suit filed Wednesday argues that EPA’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law in several respects,” including that the agency is leaving the tolerances in place without ensuring that no harm will result to infants and children, as required by the Food Act, or determining that the current tolerances for chlorpyrifos are safe.

The attorneys general request that the court set aside the July 18 order, and direct EPA to revoke all tolerances for chlorpyrifos residues on foods unless the agency makes a finding that the tolerances are “safe.”

“Chlorpyrifos is one of the most widely used insecticides in the United States on numerous food crops, including those consumed by infants and young children such as apples, strawberries, bananas, pears, peaches, nectarines and cherries,” Frosh said. “Residues of the pesticide have repeatedly been documented in baby foods and juices.”

Chlorpyrifos has been subjected to regulatory review for nearly 20 years, and its dangers are well-documented, Frosh said.

The pesticide is related to nerve gas, and acts by inhibiting an enzyme that is key to the proper development and functioning of the central nervous system and brain. Several studies have shown that children born to women exposed to chlorpyrifos during pregnancy had cognitive and motor development delays in the first three years, along with structural changes in the brain, lower working memory and IQ scores at age seven, as well as movement disorders (including arm tremors) by age eleven.

In addition to Maryland, the lawsuit was filed by the attorneys general of California, New York, Washington, Massachusetts and Vermont. The attorneys general of Hawaii and the District of Columbia intend to join the coalition by filing Thursday to intervene in the suit.