EPA will not ban use of controversial pesticide linked to children’s health problems

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency rejected a petition by environmental and public health groups Thursday to ban a widely used pesticide that has been linked to neurological damage in children, even though a federal court said last year there was “no justification” for such a decision.

In a notice to the Federal Register on Thursday, the agency wrote that “critical questions remained regarding the significance of the data” that suggest that chlorpyrifos causes neurological damage in young children. The agency said that the Obama administration’s decision to ban the product — used on more than 50 crops, including grapes, broccoli and strawberries — was based on epidemiological studies rather than direct tests on animals, which have historically been used by the EPA to determine a pesticide’s safety.

The EPA’s decision, which represented a win for industry, drew swift condemnation from groups that have pushed for years to remove the pesticide from the market.

“By allowing chlorpyrifos to stay in our fruits and vegetables, Trump’s EPA is breaking the law and neglecting the overwhelming scientific evidence that this pesticide harms children’s brains,” Patti Goldman, an attorney for the environmental law organization Earthjustice, said in a statement. “It is a tragedy that this administration sides with corporations instead of children’s health.”

Still, the decision to deny the petition could bring the country closer to final resolution of a decadeslong battle over a pesticide used on fruits, vegetables and cereals that Americans eat every day. Alston & Bird partner Kevin Minoli said agency critics can now challenge the EPA’s conclusion that the pesticide is safe and noted that judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit have already indicated “they have significant concerns about the safety of chlorpyrifos.”

“This is the entry ticket to the actual main event,” said Minoli, who served in the EPA’s Office of General Counsel under multiple Republican and Democratic administrations. “This is the end of the road.”

The Obama administration had proposed in 2015 to revoke all uses of chlorpyrifos after EPA scientists determined that existing evidence did not meet the agency’s threshold of a “reasonable certainty of no harm,” given current exposure levels in Americans’ food supply and drinking water. EPA staff cited studies of families exposed to it in apartment buildings and agricultural communities that found lower birth weight and reduced IQ , among other effects.

But before the ban was finalized, President Donald Trump took office and reversed course.

In March 2017, then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt rejected the agency’s own analysis, saying the agency would reassess the science underpinning that decision and make a final determination in 2022. That action, welcomed by the pesticide industry and Agriculture Department officials who had questioned the EPA’s findings, led to the latest court fight.

Farmers have pressed to keep chlorpyrifos, which has long been banned from indoor use, available for use on crops.

John Chandler, a fourth-generation farmer in Selma, Calif., grows peaches, plums, almonds, citrus, and grapes for raisins and wine on his property. He said his operation uses chlorpyrifos on rare occasions, like during an outbreak of the vine mealybug on grape crops.

“It’s kind of the last resort,” Chandler said, adding that his family works to minimize their employees’ exposure to the pesticide.