After years of debate, the Environmnental Protection Agency (EPA) is finally ready to revoke the use of the pesticide chloropyrifos as early as 2016. There has been a long discussion about the danger of this pesticide for our health and the environment.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himAfter years of debate theEnvironmnental Protection Agency (EPA) is finally ready to revoke the use of the chlorpyrifos pesticide as early as 2016. There has been debate for a long time about the danger of this pesticide for our health and the environment.
The chlorpyrifos pesticide is marketed by Dow AgroSciences with the names of Lorsban and Dursban. It has been used extensively as an insecticide in homes, gardens and lawns as well as in agriculture. In 2000, the EPA banned its sale for domestic use due to the health risks to children. In the US, however, this substance is still widely used in conventional agriculture.
Exposure to this pesticide has been related to damage to the nervous system, behavioral problems e low IQ in children whose mothers were exposed to chlorpyrifos during pregnancy.
In adults, exposure to chlorpyrifos can cause nausea, headache and dizziness. The damage can be greater for farmers who come into contact with this substance by using it professionally.
In the United States, the latest tests on pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables conducted by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) have detected residues of chlorpyrifos on some fruit samples that are normally in the diet of children, such as peaches.
The EPA would now like to revoke all uses of this pesticide in agriculture but the lobbies are trying to obstruct the measure. Richard Guebert, president of Farm Bureau Illinois, argues that banning chlorpyrifos in agriculture will increase production costs and food prices will rise. It is not the first time that lobbies have opposed the EPA to assert their interests without taking into account the need to protect citizens and the environment.
We still don't know if the EPA will ban the offending pesticide altogether in the United States, but what it is the situation in Europe? In the European Union, chlorpyrifos is allowed. Europe sets gods maximum levels due to the presence of chlorpyrifos residues on fruit and vegetables and according to EFSA, compliance with these limits guarantees the protection of consumers' health.
Read the EFSA assessment of chlorpyrifos here.
Read the EPA's proposal to revoke chloripirifos here.
Marta Albè
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