WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced April 5 that numerous institutions in the agriculture community have delivered comments on EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s decision to deny a ban on chlorpyrifos, a pesticide used in agriculture.
The USDA welcomed the decision, claiming its basis in science will help consumers by giving them access to a full range of fruits and vegetables.
“This is a welcome decision grounded in evidence and science…This frees American farmers from significant trade disruptions that could have been caused by an unnecessary, unilateral revocation of chlorpyrifos tolerances in the United States,” the USDA said in a press release. “It is also great news for consumers, who will continue to have access to a full range of both domestic and imported fruits and vegetables.”
The American Farm Bureau also praised the decision as it relies on chlorpyrifos for the production of numerous crops, including citrus, vegetables and soybeans.
“Farmers nationwide depend on chlorpyrifos in managing their crops. It is widely and safely used for a wide range of crops, including alfalfa, citrus, vegetables, soybeans, almonds and others,” the Bureau said in a statement. “It also protects hundreds of thousands of acres of grass seed production, where it controls aphids, cutworms and other pests. As USDA has noted, chlorpyrifos has been used as a part of environmentally friendly IPM (integrated pest management) programs for nearly 50 years.”