Shame on you EPA.
In 2000, the agency banned the indoor use of chlorpyrifos from indoor use. But it has now allowed the chemical to be used in the agricultural industry to protect crops, especially corn, from insects.
Chlorpyrifos and organophosphates (OP) is dangerous to children’s neurological development. A 2006 study that shows that children who are exposed to chlorpyrifos in the womb are at risk of delayed physical and mental development as well as attention and hyperactive disorder problems. In a 2016 memorandum, the EPA itself stated, “there is evidence of delays in mental development in infants (24-36 months), attention problems and autism spectrum disorder in early childhood, and intelligence decrements in school age children who were exposed to OPs during gestation.”
Something about Chlorpyrifos
- The largest agricultural market for chlorpyrifos in terms of total pounds of active ingredient is corn.
- It is also used on soybeans, fruit and nut trees, Brussels sprouts, cranberries, broccoli, and cauliflower, as well as other row crops.
- Non-agricultural uses include golf courses, turf, green houses, and on non-structural wood treatments such as utility poles and fence posts. It is also registered for use as a mosquito adulticide, and for use in roach and ant bait stations in child resistant packaging.
The decision by the new Environmental Protection Agency to rebuff the advice of its own scientists to ban the brain-damaging pesticide chlorpyrifos has prompted protests from farm worker communities.
According to the EPA, it is okay to poison our children’s food so Big chemical companies can continue their business. Shame on you – EPA.
