Earlier this year, semonstrators at the Hawaii Capitol to urge the state Senate to vote in favor of a bill to phase out the widely used agricultural pesticide chlorpyrifos, which studies show can harm children’s brains.
Credit: Honolulu Star-Advertiser

In a “major victory for public health,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on Thursday ruled the Trump administration illegally blocked a ban on chlorpyrifos—a pesticide linked to brain development delays in children and nervous systems issuesfor all people and animals exposed to it—and ordered that it be outlawed within 60 days.

“Allowing the use of this toxic chemical is not only irresponsible, it is a crime.”
—Hector Sanchez Barba, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement

“Children, farmworkers, rural families, and science are all huge winners today,” responded Kristin Schafer, executive director of Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North America. “The court affirmed that EPA’s job is to protect public health, not industry profits.”

While the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlawed household use of the chemical in 2000, citing concerns about children’s health, it has […]