How Has This Pesticide Not Been Banned? Government scientists say chlorpyrifos is unsafe. And yet it’s still in use.

The

pesticide

Use synonyms

known as c

hlorpyrifos

Suggestion

is both clearly dangerous and in very wide use. It is known to pass easily from mother to fetus and has been linked to a wide range of serious medical problems, including impaired development, Parkinson’s disease and some forms of cancer. That’s not entirely surprising. The chemical was originally developed by N

azis

Suggestion

the Nazis

during World War II for use as a nerve gas. Here’s what is surprising: Tons of the

pesticide

Use synonyms

are still being sprayed across millions of acres of United States farmland every year, nearly five years after the Environmental Protection Agency determined that it should be banned. The

E

Use synonyms

.

P

Use synonyms

.A. p

roposed

Suggestion

Proposed

a full federal

ban

Use synonyms

after its scientists concluded that there was s

ubstantial risk

Suggestion

a substantial risk

for children and developing fetuses. But federal officials backed off the proposal soon after President Trump took office, and

then

Linking Words

reversed it completely

this

Linking Words

past July. The agency now says the data on c

hlorpyrifos

Suggestion

is insufficient and unreliable, but that argument cuts against well-established scientific opinion and years of careful study by

E

Use synonyms

.

P

Use synonyms

.A. e

xperts.

Suggestion

Experts

With the federal government abdicating its responsibility, individual states have been left to fill the void. Hawaii and California have issued statewide bans, and several other states, including New Jersey, are taking steps to do the same. The New York attorney general is spearheading a lawsuit against the

E

Use synonyms

.

P

Use synonyms

.A., contending the agency broke the law when it reversed course on the federal

ban

Use synonyms

of c

hlorpyrifos.

Suggestion

And New York’s State Legislature passed, with broad bipartisan support, a bill to

ban

Use synonyms

the chemical. Nearly 100 medical, consumer and environmental organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, supported the measure. Gov. Andrew Cuomo,

however

Linking Words

, vetoed that bill. Mr. Cuomo promises to institute a

ban

Use synonyms

on the

pesticide

Use synonyms

— and quickly, by July 2021 — but says that his

administration

Use synonyms

will accomplish

this

Linking Words

goal through regulations, not legislation. That’s an unfortunate choice. Regulations tend to be far more vulnerable to legal challenge and other stalling tactics, including regulatory hearings that could take years even to schedule, than actual laws. It’s hard to see why the governor would forgo the latter option, especially when he had it sitting right in front of him. The chemical industry and some farmers have lobbied intensively against a c

hlorpyrifos

Suggestion

ban

Use synonyms

, insisting that there are no effective alternatives. That’s a specious argument. The

pesticide

Use synonyms

was recently banned in the European Union, and farmers in the United States and abroad have already started to replace it with safer alternatives, including integrated pest management. California has paired its statewide c

hlorpyrifos

Suggestion

ban

Use synonyms

with nearly $6 million in funding to help develop those alternatives. A nationwide effort to do the same would only accelerate that process. The health risks posed by continued spraying of c

hlorpyrifos

Suggestion

are especially high for f

armworkers

Suggestion

and rural communities. But the

E

Use synonyms

.

P

Use synonyms

.A. h

as

Suggestion

Has

found that young children everywhere are exposed to the chemical — at levels 140 times higher than the agency’s safety threshold — through the simple act of eating. In 2018, a panel of federal judges ordered the Trump

administration

Use synonyms

to

ban

Use synonyms

c

hlorpyrifos

Suggestion

in accordance with the

E

Use synonyms

.

P

Use synonyms

.A.’s

Suggestion

S

initial findings. But the

administration

Use synonyms

appealed — a legal battle

that is

Linking Words

unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. The

administration

Use synonyms

also

Linking Words

blocked the release of a federal report indicating that c

hlorpyrifos

Suggestion

poses a direct threat to more than 1,000 species that are already at risk of extinction. (

C

Accept space

(

orteva

Suggestion

Curative

Agriscience, the

pesticide

Use synonyms

’s manufacturer, donated $1 million to Mr. Trump’s inauguration committee.) Banning a chemical as clearly dangerous as c

hlorpyrifos

Suggestion

should not be

this

Linking Words

difficult. A better functioning

E

Use synonyms

.

P

Use synonyms

.A. w

ould

Suggestion

Would

do just that, heeding the conclusions of its own scientists and h

onoring

conformity with law or custom or practice etc.

honouring

the agency’s stated mission.

Instead

Linking Words

, countless children are being routinely exposed to an unnecessary risk, while the nation waits for someone — anyone — to take a stronger stand.