Time’s up for chlorpyrifos on food in the US

In a win for environmental and farmworker groups, a federal appeals court ruled April 29 that the US Environmental Protection Agency must, within 60 days, ban all uses of chlorpyrifos on food or establish new residue levels for the insecticide that are safe for children. The decision comes after more than a decade of pressure on the agency to address the neurotoxic effects of the organophosphate pesticide on children and farmworkers.

The EPA proposed banning chlorpyrifos on food in 2016 in response to a 2007 petition from environmental groups. But the agency reversed that decision in 2017 under the Trump administration. Environmental and labor groups have challenged the EPA ever since.