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“This is very unusual,” said Michal Freedhoff, EPA’s deputy director for chemical safety and pollution prevention, of the court’s directive. “It describes the impatience and frustration of the courts, environmental groups and farm workers with the agency.”
“The court basically said, ‘Enough is enough,'” Ms Freedhoff said. “Either tell us it’s safe and show your work and cancel all tolerances if you can’t.”
The decision is expected to draw criticism from the chemical industry and the farm lobby, who worked closely with the Trump administration prior to the decision to keep chlorpyrifos in use.
“The availability of pesticides like chlorpyrifos is relied upon by farmers to control a variety of insect pests and by public health officials working to control deadly and debilitating pests like mosquitoes,” said Chris Novak, CEO of CropLife America. Agrochemicals company during the Trump decision.
Pesticide products containing chlorpyrifos include the Hatchet brands manufactured by Dow AgroSciences; Eraser produced by Integrated Agricultural Business Specialists; and Govern, manufactured by Tenkoz.
Chlorpyrifos will continue to be used for non-food uses such as golf courses, turf, utility poles and fence posts, as well as for cockroach bait and ant treatments.
Judge Jed S. Rakoff, of the Ninth Circuit, said in a scorching attack on the Trump administration’s EPA that, on behalf of the court, instead of banning or imposing restrictions on pesticide, the agency “tried to evade one after another with the tactic of delaying simple legal duties.”
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