NEW YORK — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has agreed with New York state in the banning of a pesticide that has been documented to harm neurological development in children.
New York State Attorney General Barbara Underwood, who challenged the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision to allow the use of chlorpyrifos, is praised the court's decision to ban use of the chemical within 60 days.
“[This] decision is a huge win for our children’s health, blocking the Trump administration from allowing continued exposure to this toxic pesticide," Underwood said in a statement. "The EPA’s most fundamental responsibility is to protect the health and safety of New Yorkers and all Americans — especially our children. Yet the Trump EPA continues to put corporations before people. As we’ve shown again and again in court, when the Trump administration breaks the law, we will fight back—and we will win.”
According to the Underwood's office, chlorpyrifos is one of the most widely used pesticide in the U.S. and used on crops such as apples, strawberries, bananas, pears, peaches, nectarines and cherries. Studies have shown children born to women exposed to the chemical had delays in motor development, structural changes in the brain, lower memory and IQ scores at age 7 and disorders such as tremors by age 11.