A federal appeals court in San Francisco Friday gave the EPA 90 days to justify why a widely used pesticide should remain on the market.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was responding to a lawsuit by environmental and farm worker groups seeking a ban on chlorpyrifos [klor-PEER-ih-foss] …which is known to have links to severe, negative health effects on children's developing brains.
As Capital Public Radio's Julia Mitric [MEE-tritch] explains, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation recently put some restrictions on the pesticide.
"Those limits went effect in January...but chlorpyrifos is still allowed in almonds, alfalfa, asparagus, citrus farming if growers show there are no effective alternatives. But a recent UCLA study found that local Ag officials are not doing enough to explore alternatives to the insecticide."
Attorneys for environmental groups commended the move by the federal appeals court but say it's unlikely the Trump EPA will ban chlorpyrifos [klor-PEER-ih-foss] on its own.
