WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2018) The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) issued weak restrictions that leave farming communities exposed to a brain-damaging chemical called chlorpyrifos, Earthjustice environmental group attorney Greg Loarie said in a press release.
"The recommended restrictions the CDPR placed on chlorpyrifos today are weak and miss the mark. The science is overwhelming and irrefutable. Organophosphates like chlorpyrifos are simply too harmful to farmworkers, mothers, and children," Loarie said on Thursday. "Banning this nerve agent... is the only way to protect vulnerable communities that suffer the impacts of pesticide exposure every day."
The CDPR proposal restricts use of chlorpyrifos only on certain crops and eliminates air spraying. The decision came despite numerous calls from scientists to ban the pesticide completely, the release added.
In August, a US Federal appeals court overturned the Environmental Protection Agency's 2017 decision to allow the use of chlorpyrifos and ordered a ban of the pesticide within 60 days.
Former EPA chief Scott Pruitt in March 2017 denied a petition to ban chlorpyrifos, claiming that the scientific evidence about its health risks was "inconsistent." Numerous studies have documented the pesticide's harmful effects, and the World Health Organization has declared chlorpyrifos to be moderately hazardous to humans.
