Pesticide Manufacturer Agrees Not to Hinder California’s Ban on Chlorpyrifos

California bans chlorpyrifos to benefit public health. (Pixabay)

California announced the ban of chlorpyrifos, a widely used agricultural pesticide that environmental officials have linked to health defects in children, after reaching an agreement with manufacturer Corteva Agriscience on October 9. Under the accord, sales of the pesticide will discontinue on February 6, 2020 and agricultural growers must stop using the pesticide by December 31, 2020. 

Farmers typically use the pesticide on California’s top producing commodities including grapes, walnuts and almonds, which accounted for 13% of the nation’s total agricultural value in 2017. The damage that chlorpyrifos wreaks upon the environment has also been well documented. In 2017, the New York Times reported that continued adolescent exposure to chlorpyrifos led to an increased risk of deficit in working memory, I.Q., A.D.H.D.-type behavioral problems, and autism spectrum disorder. In 2018, the National Marine Fisheries Service found that the use of chlorpyrifos affected 38 species of endangered fish and 37 designated “critical habitat” locations for endangered species. 

Although the Obama administration proposed a federal ban on chlorpyrifos back in 2015, the Trump administration took the ban off the table while allowing the EPA to reach a final decision by 2022, marking California’s change as a decisive victory for environmental advocacy groups. After the ban announcement, California’s EPA Secretary, Jared Blumenfeld, said that the state will “look toward developing alternative pest management practices,” kicking in $5.6 million to aid pesticide manufacturers in developing safer options. 

Corteva Agriscience, the manufacturer of chlorpyrifos, commented that the company made the agreement “in the best interests of the affected growers,”according to the Washington Post. As a pending suit in the Ninth Circuit brought by environmental and farm worker advocacy organizations unfolds in an attempt to force the EPA to ban chlorpyrifos nationwide before the 2022 determination, California once again stands as a trailblazer among the 50 states in advocating an environmentally friendly regulatory landscape. As states like New York and Hawaii also work to phase in their own chlorpyrifos bans, other states continue to legislate beyond federal environmental regulations on issues ranging from carbon emissions to agricultural standards. In a statement released by the California EPA, Governor Gavin Newsom praised the pesticide ban as “a big win for children, workers, and public health in California.”