Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General Thomas J. Donovan, Jr, joined a coalition of seven state Attorneys General to oppose the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) March 29, 2017 order allowing continued use of chlorpyrifos on food. Chlorpyrifos, a widely-used pesticide on food crops – including those consumed by infants, young children and pregnant women – has been shown to negatively impact proper development and functioning of the central nervous system and the brain.
The EPA’s March order was a reversal in course from previous EPA action on chlorpyrifos. The public health dangers of chlorpyrifos are well-documented, with EPA’s own scientists twice being unable to identify a safe level for the pesticide on food. In 2015 and again in 2016, in response to a petition filed by environmental groups requesting revocation of chlorpyrifos food tolerances, the EPA issued notices of proposed rulemaking to revoke all tolerances for the pesticide on food because the Agency was unable to identify a safe level of chlorpyrifos on food. Notably, the 2016 notice stated that “EPA can only retain chlorpyrifos tolerances if it is able to conclude that such tolerances are safe.” The EPA’s March order abruptly changed position on the proposed regulations and denied the administrative petition by the environmental groups to revoke the current tolerances for chlorpyrifos on food. Citing “uncertainty” in chlorpyrifos’ toxicity, the EPA order puts off until October 2022, if not longer, any decision on whether to revoke or modify current food tolerances for the pesticide “This is about safe food,” said Attorney General Donovan. “By allowing continued exposure to this toxic pesticide on food, the EPA is jeopardizing the health of Vermonters and our children.”
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, cherries, bananas, pears, peaches, nectarines, and cherries. 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 toxic harms are well-documented. Columbia University studies have shown that children born to women exposed to chlorpyrifos during pregnancy had cognitive and motor development delays in the first 3 years, and structural changes in the brain, lower working memory and IQ scores at age seven, and movement disorders (including arm tremors) at age eleven.
Joining Vermont in the coalition were the Attorneys General of California, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington. Click here to read the Attorney General’s filing.
Vermont AG: June 6, 2017