I introduced a bill to ban chlorpyrifos in Minnesota this year, but it did not pass. Let’s get it done before more children are harmed by it. #BanChlorpyrifos #ForAHealthyThrivingMinnesota https://t.co/qkhzod3INW
— Kelly Morrison (@Morrison4MN) July 13, 2021
Earlier this year, we posted--several times--about Deephaven DFLer and pediatrician Kelly Morrison's effort to ban chlorpyrifos. The language from HF670 didn't survive the process, but the dangers of chlorpyrifos continue to make headlines.
On Monday, the Star Tribune published Associated Press staffer Don Thompson's article, Pesticide caused kids' brain damage, California lawsuits say. Thompson reports:
Lawsuits filed Monday in California seek potential class-action damages from Dow Chemical and its successor company over a widely used bug killer linked to brain damage in children.
Chlorpyrifos is approved for use on more than 80 crops, including oranges, berries, grapes, soybeans, almonds and walnuts, though California banned sales of the pesticide last year and spraying of it this year. Some other states, including New York, have moved to ban it.
Stuart Calwell, lead attorney in the lawsuits, argued that its effects linger in Central Valley agricultural communities contaminated by chlorpyrifos during decades of use, with measurable levels still found in his clients' homes.
Lawyers project that at least 100,000 homes in the nation's largest agricultural state may need to dispose of most of their belongings because they are contaminated with the pesticide.
"We have found it in the houses, we have found it in carpet, in upholstered furniture, we found it in a teddy bear, and we found it on the walls and surfaces," Calwell said. "Then a little child picks up a teddy bear and holds on to it."
All that needs to be cleaned up, he says, because "it's not going away on its own."
State records show 61 million pounds of the pesticide were applied from 1974 through 2017 in four counties where the lawsuits were filed, Calwell said.
Officials with Dow and its affiliated Corteva Inc. did not immediately respond to telephone and email requests seeking comment.
Corteva stopped producing the pesticide last year. The Delaware-based company was created after a merger of Dow Chemical and Dupont and had been the world's largest manufacturer of chlorpyrifos. The company has said it believes the product is safe and said it stopped production because of declining sales.
Scientific studies have shown that chlorpyrifos damages the brains of fetuses and children. It was first used in 1965 but was banned for household use in 2001.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is weighing whether to ban the product or declare it safe, including for infants and children. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in April ordered the EPA to make a decision after studying the product for more than a decade. The Trump administration had halted the rule-making process.
The lawsuits were filed on behalf of people in Fresno, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties, though Calwell said they are a precursor to seeking class-action status. Aside from Dow-related companies, they name various farming companies they say applied the chemical near the plaintiffs' homes.
In each case, the plaintiffs are parents suing on behalf of children who suffer from severe neurological injuries that the lawsuits blame on their exposure to the chemical while they were in the womb or when they were very young. . ..
Read the rest at the Star Tribune.
Related posts:
- Annals of regulatory capture: read these Intercept articles on pesticide makers & the EPA
- Session Daily: Pesticide scrutinized for affecting child brain development could be banned
- Session Daily: 'Problem-solving' omnibuzz environment bill passed by House
- Buzz briefs: Bee Lucky lottery tickets; Lawns to Legumes wins Environmental Initative award.
- House enviro omnibus bill centers "the people, & the land, & the water & the wildlife of MN"
- Pollinator protection bills heard today in the Minnesota House Agriculture Committee at 1PM
- MN House Republicans abjectly fail to protect pesticides from radical pollinator-hugging leftists
- Update: MNHouse GOP fails to replace pesticide industry interests over local control
- MN mom spoke out in DC on behalf of bill banning chlorpyrifos, a brain-harming pesticide (2017)
Image: Graphic from The Most Widely Used Pesticide, One Year Later, in Harvard University's SITN's Science Policy blog.
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