BOSTON (Legal Newsline) — Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced June 7 that she has joined six other attorneys general in challenging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s decision to abandon its proposed ban on a toxic pesticide widely used on food consumed by infants, young children and pregnant women.
Healey is joined by the attorneys general of New York, California, Maine, Maryland, Washington and Vermont. The pesticide in question is called Chlorpyrifos, a common insecticide used in the United States on such crops as apples, strawberries, bananas, pears, peaches, nectarines and cherries. Residue from the product has made its way into baby foods and juices. According to research, Chlorpyrifos can cause significant harm to newborn children.
“This is yet another outrageous and wrongheaded decision by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt that harms public health," Healey said. "By failing to take appropriate action to ensure that foods are not dangerously contaminated with this toxic pesticide, the EPA is putting the health of the public – particularly our most vulnerable infants, children and pregnant women – at risk,” Healey said. “We demand that Scott Pruitt vacate this order immediately to ensure that our residents are not eating food that is tainted with this highly unsafe product.”
