The Environmental Protection Agency must enact the ban within 60 days
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A federal court ruling means farmers will have one less crop protection tool to use next year.
Yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban sales of chlorpyrifos. Producers use this pesticide to protect corn, soybeans, wheat, and several fruit and vegetable crops from aphids, beetles and cutworms.
The federal agency failed to ban the crop protection product earlier, despite understanding its potential risks to children, the ruling says.
The court order reverses a March 2017 decision by former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt to reject a petition calling for the pesticide’s ban.
DowDuPont, who introduced the pesticide in 1965, remains a leading manufacturer of chlorpyrifos. The company markets the pesticide under the Lorsban label.
Growers applied the pesticide to about 11 percent of soybean acres and eight million corn acres in 2008, the company’s website says.
DowDuPont expects to challenge the court ruling.
“All appellate options to challenge the majority’s decision will be considered,” Gregg Schmidt, a spokesman for DowDuPont, said in a statement yesterday, The Washington Post reports. “We will continue to support the growers who need this important product.”
The EPA must comply with the order within 60 days.
Agency officials will use as much time as they need to make sure an outright ban on the product is a necessary action.
“EPA is reviewing the decision,” Michael Abboud, a spokesman for the EPA, said in a statement.
Data from Columbia University, which was used to support the ban, “remains inaccessible and has hindered the agency’s ongoing process to fully evaluate the pesticide using the best available, transparent science,” Abboud added.
Farms.com has reached out to farmers and agronomists for comment on how the ban could impact future pest management programs.