A federal court orders the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban chlorpyrifos, a farm pesticide that has been under scrutiny for years, according to an article from WTKR.com. The insecticide was reportedly banned for household use in 2000 but has remained in use in commercial agriculture. The court ruling is the result of a lawsuit brought by public health groups and state attorneys general.
According to the article, the EPA and the courts have considered an outright ban on the pesticide since 2007. The EPA was ordered to make a decision in 2015, and in 2017, the Trump administration-led agency did – reportedly deeming a broader ban on the chemical unwarranted due to uncertainty in the science. The latest court ruling overturns that decision and the court blasts both Democratic and Republican agency leadership for having stalled on the issue.
Read the entire article here.