California will outlaw the use of a pesticide linked to developmental problems in humans after President Donald Trump's administration scrapped plans for a nationwide ban, state health officials said Wednesday.
The decision to ban chlorpyrifos in the agriculturally rich state follows "mounting evidence" of serious health effects for exposed children and other vulnerable people, two California health agencies said in a statement.
Toxic effects including "impaired brain and neurological development" occur at lower levels of the pesticide than previously thought, said the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR).
Farmers using the product will have 15 days to challenge the ban notice in court before it comes into effect, the DPR told AFP.
Virtually all residential uses of the pesticide has been banned since the end of 2001 throughout the United States.
[...] The European Commission announced this month it will recommend chlorpyrifos does not have its license renewed when it expires in January, following a negative assessment by the EU's food safety watchdog. Eight European countries have already individually banned products containing the pesticide.
(Score: 2) by bussdriver on Saturday August 17 2019, @05:29AM
Companies have ZERO problems messing up their homes. They live out of state or on the other side of town... or they know it won't harm anybody in 10 years and they will be elsewhere before it is a problem...likely at another corp. Some stupid ones with cognitive dissonance will believe their own BS hype and poison themselves simply because they won't accept the bad news!
The not-in-my-backyard problem is far easier to address nationally than locally. For some things it's better to keep it in 1 place than 50...