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TRUMP’S EPA KEEPS BRAIN-DAMAGING PESTICIDE IN FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  ender  •  5 years ago  •  40 comments

TRUMP’S EPA KEEPS BRAIN-DAMAGING PESTICIDE IN FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
Chlorpyrifos is linked to learning disabilities in children and unsafe to farmworkers

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



Washington, D.C. — 

Today, the   U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the brain-damaging pesticide chlorpyrifos can still be used on food , although mainstream science says this pesticide is unsafe for children and farmworkers. This decision meets the deadline ordered by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for the EPA to make a final decision on a petition to ban chlorpyrifos on food.

“By allowing chlorpyrifos to stay in our fruits and vegetables, Trump’s EPA is breaking the law and neglecting the overwhelming scientific evidence that this pesticide harms children’s brains,”   said Patti Goldman, Earthjustice attorney.   “It is a tragedy that this administration sides with corporations instead of children’s health. But this is only a setback. Lawmakers in states like Hawai'i and New York are now showing the rest of the country that banning this dreadful pesticide is not only possible, but inevitable.”

While the Trump administration disregards science and health, states are taking action. Last year Hawaiʻi passed a law banning chlorpyrifos and this year, New York legislators overwhelmingly approved a bill doing the same in that state. The New York bill awaits Governor Andrew Cuomo's signature.

“Every day we go without a ban, children and farmworkers are eating, drinking and breathing a pesticide linked to intellectual and learning disabilities and poisonings,”   said the 12 plaintiff organizations challenging the 2017 decision.   “We will continue to fight until chlorpyrifos is banned and children and farmworkers are safe from this dangerous chemical.”

Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate (OP), a class of chemicals that includes sarin nerve gas. First developed by the Nazis for chemical warfare, OPs were later repurposed for agricultural uses. Chlorpyrifos and other OP pesticides are used on strawberries, apples, citrus, broccoli, corn, and more. In fact, chlorpyrifos is one of the most frequently used pesticides in the United States.

Studies show that   exposures to chlorpyrifos and other OP pesticides in infants and children   are associated with lower birth weight, reduced IQ, loss of working memory, attention disorders, and even   autism .

Chlorpyrifos and the other OP pesticides were banned from almost all home use nearly two decades ago, they were too toxic to children. EPA was on course to ban chlorpyrifos from all food crops, but weeks after former EPA boss   Scott Pruitt met with the head of the largest manufacturer of chlorpyrifos, Dow Chemical   — now Corteva Agriscience — Pruitt falsely claimed in 2017 the science is “unresolved” and decided EPA would study the issue until 2022.

Earthjustice is representing the League of United Latin American Citizens, National Hispanic Medical Association, United Farm Workers, Farmworker Association of Florida, Learning Disabilities Association of America, Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, Pesticide Action Network, California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Farmworker Justice, GreenLatinos, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Photo: Chlorpyrifos is acutely toxic and associated with neurodevelopmental harms in children AUSTIN VALLEY / CC BY 2.0


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Ender
Professor Principal
1  seeder  Ender    5 years ago

Who cares...as long as chemical companies can back a few mil. /s

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
1.1  Sean Treacy  replied to  Ender @1    5 years ago

That’s what the Obama epa said, for sure.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
1.1.1  seeder  Ender  replied to  Sean Treacy @1.1    5 years ago

So no other comment except to give a false accusation?

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
1.1.3  sandy-2021492  replied to    5 years ago
If it was so deadly why didn't Obama have it banned?

The EPA proposed a ban in 2015.  Pruitt overturned that proposal in 2017.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
1.1.4  seeder  Ender  replied to    5 years ago

There was a court mandated deadline for a decision.

This is a toxin that was banned in home use. The trump administration decided to backtrack and let the company continue to use poison on our food.

Funny to me that people complain about healthcare costs yet champion a company detrimental to health.

 
 
 
igknorantzrulz
PhD Quiet
1.1.5  igknorantzrulz  replied to  Ender @1.1.4    5 years ago

is it any surprise

that Trumpp would want people to be brain dead

?

 
 
 
bugsy
Professor Participates
1.1.6  bugsy  replied to  sandy-2021492 @1.1.3    5 years ago
The EPA proposed a ban in 2015.

Obama was president for up to 2 years after that. Why did he not ban it during that time?

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
1.1.7  sandy-2021492  replied to  bugsy @1.1.6    5 years ago

I'm not aware that he could have banned it all by himself.  His EPA director did, admittedly after much delay, probably thanks to lobbying efforts by Dow.  Two days before the ban was to take effect, Pruitt, you know, Trump's anti-EPA EPA director, reversed it.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
1.1.9  seeder  Ender  replied to    5 years ago

trump and his administration has everything to do with it. Just saying otherwise does not make it so.

It is a poison and there is even a link in the article about developmental delays in children from the product.

Amazing to me that you would not mind eating poison.

By the way, it is not poisoning foods crops, it is poisoning the people eating the crops...

 
 
 
sandy-2021492
Professor Expert
1.1.10  sandy-2021492  replied to  Ender @1.1.9    5 years ago

It's also harmful to bees, even at low doses.  I doubt this administration is nearly as concerned as it should be about the decline in bee populations.  I would hope that farmers understand the importance of pollinators, and voluntarily stop using chlorpyrifos.

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
1.1.11  Gordy327  replied to  igknorantzrulz @1.1.5    5 years ago

Well, didn't he say he loves the poorly educated? Brain dead is kind of like that.

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.1.12  Texan1211  replied to  Gordy327 @1.1.11    5 years ago
Well, didn't he say he loves the poorly educated? Brain dead is kind of like that.

Do Democrats NOT love the poorly educated or something?

Is that why so many are so fond of quoting the President on that?

Seems very weird, considering the base that makes up much of the Democratic Party---some of the lowest educated groups in America.

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
1.1.13  Gordy327  replied to  Texan1211 @1.1.12    5 years ago

I wouldn't know. I'm not a democrat.

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.1.14  Texan1211  replied to  Gordy327 @1.1.13    5 years ago

Okay then, do you not love the poorly educated?

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
1.1.15  Gordy327  replied to  Texan1211 @1.1.14    5 years ago

No. Why would i? I have no emotional connection to them.

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.1.16  Texan1211  replied to  Gordy327 @1.1.15    5 years ago

Some folks simply choose to love all, without regard to race, religion, sex, or education.

At least until those folks do something to warrant the loss of that love.

To each their own.

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
1.1.17  Gordy327  replied to  Texan1211 @1.1.16    5 years ago

Good for them. I don't pretend to carry emotional attachments for someone I never met. And in the context of Trump, he probably only "loves" the uneducated because he thinks they voted for or supported him. I doubt he harbors actual feelings of love for them.

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.1.18  Texan1211  replied to  Gordy327 @1.1.17    5 years ago

No emotional attachments. Get real, for once. If you really don't understand what one might mean when they say they "Love the poorly educated" or "Love the educated" or any other  [removed]

 
 
 
katrix
Sophomore Participates
1.1.19  katrix  replied to  Texan1211 @1.1.18    5 years ago
If you really don't understand what one might mean when they say they "Love the poorly educated

I understand what a decent human being with a sense of empathy might mean by that. I also understand what Trump meant by it - and it was not complimentary. Basically he only loves them because they support him. Same way he loves Putin and Kim, and despises anyone who doesn't adore him.

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.1.20  Texan1211  replied to  katrix @1.1.19    5 years ago

SOSDD

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
1.1.21  Gordy327  replied to  Texan1211 @1.1.18    5 years ago

What Katrix said. She said it better than I could.

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
1.1.22  Gordy327  replied to  Texan1211 @1.1.20    5 years ago

[Removed]

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.1.23  Texan1211  replied to  Gordy327 @1.1.22    5 years ago

Sure I am dismissive [Removed]

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
1.1.24  Gordy327  replied to  Texan1211 @1.1.23    5 years ago

Getting personal only shows you have nothing.

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.1.25  Texan1211  replied to  Gordy327 @1.1.24    5 years ago

[Removed]

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
1.1.26  Gordy327  replied to  Texan1211 @1.1.25    5 years ago

You're the one who engaged me first. So don't complain when a discussion doesn't go your way! You only have yourself to blame.

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.1.27  Texan1211  replied to  Gordy327 @1.1.26    5 years ago

I don't see where I complained.

Do quote me.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
1.1.28  seeder  Ender  replied to  Texan1211 @1.1.27    5 years ago

Stop derailing. Anything to say on the topic?

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
1.1.29  Gordy327  replied to  Texan1211 @1.1.27    5 years ago

Start with your deleted comment and work your way up from there. Oh, and what Ender said too.

 
 
 
Ronin2
Professor Quiet
1.1.30  Ronin2  replied to  Gordy327 @1.1.17    5 years ago

All politicians love the uneducated. It doesn't matter which party both think the uneducated are easily duped.

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.1.31  Texan1211  replied to  Gordy327 @1.1.29    5 years ago

I know who quoted Trump on that, and why.

You can pretend otherwise if you choose, it doesn't matter to me.

I just love it when one side pretends to be something they aren't.

Two of the lowest-educated groups make up a sizable part of the Democratic Party base.

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
1.1.32  Gordy327  replied to  Texan1211 @1.1.31    5 years ago

Pretending to do what exactly? 

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
1.1.33  Gordy327  replied to  Ronin2 @1.1.30    5 years ago

That is probably true

 
 
 
Enoch
Masters Quiet
2  Enoch    5 years ago

Dear Friend Ender: Europe is way ahead of us in protecting consumers from harm in what we eat, and how it is produced and prepared. 

Its OK to learn from the wisdom of others.

Thanks for an interesting and informative post.

P&AB.

Enoch.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
2.1  seeder  Ender  replied to  Enoch @2    5 years ago

True. Sometimes it feels like health and well being take a backseat to profit margin.

 
 
 
Enoch
Masters Quiet
2.1.1  Enoch  replied to  Ender @2.1    5 years ago

Indeed!

 
 
 
igknorantzrulz
PhD Quiet
2.1.2  igknorantzrulz  replied to  Ender @2.1    5 years ago
Sometime

?

i'd go with way too fricken often !

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
2.1.3  seeder  Ender  replied to  igknorantzrulz @2.1.2    5 years ago

Touché

 
 

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