UPDATE: In April 2017, EPA Did NOT Ban Deadly Insecticide; Now Federal Court Bans It

The original post included below is from April 4, 2017 when Scott Pruitt was just getting started with his destruction.  Please re-read to remind yourself on the topic of chlorpyrifos but then see this major update from earlier in August.

A federal court on Thursday [August 9, 2018] ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to ban a pesticide used widely in farming.

The 2-1 ruling on a lawsuit brought by public health groups and state attorneys general ordered the agency "to revoke all tolerances and cancel all registrations for chlorpyrifos within 60 days."

Concerns that the insecticide can harm the brain and nervous system led to the EPA banning the household use of chlorpyrifos in 2000.  But the agency had allowed the chemical to continue to be used in commercial agriculture, where, some scientists say, it can be used in safe quantities.   

The Trump administration-led EPA made that decision in April 2017, when it ruled that a broader ban on the chemical was not warranted, citing "uncertainty" in the science linking chlorpyrifos to "neurodevelopmental effects."  Internal EPA emails released last summer appeared to show politics played a role in the administration's 2017 decision.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/09/politics/epa-court-order-ban-pesticide-chlorpyrifos/index.html

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Scott Pruitt has called for the dissolution of much of the EPA's authority yet now runs the Environmental Protection Agency.  He is a seasoned legal opponent of the agency and is unfortunately an effective tool for Trump's efforts to dismantle regulations on climate change and clean water and "get rid" of the agency.  In general, Pruitt and the administration are waging a war against science, safety, and common sense in order to benefit their favored corporate interests.  Private profits in the hundreds of billions over health and safety of hundreds of millions of human beings and the future of our Planet.  At a time when our nation and the world would benefit from a more supported EPA, the exact opposite has occurred; an impossible pill to swallow.

EPA scientists concluded in 2016 that exposure to chlorpyrifos, which has been in use since 1965, "was potentially causing significant health consequences.  They included learning and memory declines, particularly among farm workers and young children who may be exposed through drinking water and other sources."

Pruitt rejected the scientific conclusion of the agency’s own chemical safety experts who recommended that chlorpyrifos be permanently banned at farms nationwide. The chemical was banned in 2000 for use in most household settings, but still today is used at about 40,000 farms on about 50 different types of crops, ranging from almonds to apples.

Jim Jones, who ran the chemical safety unit at the E.P.A. for five years, and spent more than 20 years working there until he left the agency in January when President Trump took office, said he was disappointed by Mr. Pruitt’s action. “They are ignoring the science that is pretty solid,” Mr. Jones said, adding that he believed the ruling would put farm workers and exposed children at unnecessary risk.

Mr. Pruitt’s move was immediately condemned by environmental groups, which said it showed that the Trump administration cared more about catering to the demands of major corporate players, like Dow Chemical, than the health and safety of families nationwide.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/us/politics/epa-insecticide-chlorpyrifos.html