Oregon joins California and Hawaii in banning Dow’s chlorpyrifos after EPA fails to
Though it hasn’t got as much press, Dow’s chlorpyrifos pesticide is right up there with Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide in terms of how much damaged it’s caused over the last half century or so.
Despite decades of studies linking chlorpyrifos to brain damage, low IQ, autism, ADHD, birth defects, lung cancer and Parkinson’s, the EPA has failed to ban the poison.
Now states are bypassing the federal agency and outlawing the pesticide themselves.
Following Hawaii and California’s lead, Oregon just passed legislation that gradually phases out the use of chlorpyrifos over the next two years, with a complete ban on it by the end of 2023.
Chlorpyrifos has been sprayed on American food crops since the 1970s, especially on corn, soy, wheat, sugar beets, apples, citrus and berries. They are also used on leafy greens and Christmas trees.
It was approved after Dow published misleading studies on its toxicity. The EPA almost banned it in 2016, but backpedaled in 2017 after Trump’s EPA director met with Dow’s CEO.