States Sue Over EPAs Decision To Keep Pesticide Found To Harm Children's Brains
Source: Associated Press
By MICHAEL BIESECKER Published JULY 6, 2017 1:55 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — Several states are seeking to join a legal challenge to a Trump administration decision to keep a widely used pesticide on the market despite studies showing it can harm children’s brains.
Led by New York, the coalition filed a motion Wednesday to intervene in a legal fight over the continued spraying of chlorpyrifos on food. Massachusetts, Maryland, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia are also seeking to join the suit pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.
The states claim that Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt violated the law by ending his agency’s effort to ban the pesticide sold by Dow Chemical after federal scientists concluded it can interfere with the brain development of fetuses and infants. Federal law requires EPA to ensure that pesticides used on food in the United States are safe for human consumption — especially by children, who studies show are typically far more sensitive to negative effects from pesticides.
“Job No. 1 for the EPA should be protecting Americans’ wellbeing, especially that of our children,” said Eric Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, in announcing the legal action. “Yet the administration is jeopardizing our kids’ health, allowing the use of a toxic pesticide for which it can’t even identify a safe level.”
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