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Friday, May 10th, 2019

California defies Trump to ban pesticide linked to childhood brain damage

Author:     Sam Levin
Source:     The Guardian (U.K.)
Publication Date:     Wed 8 May 2019 15.06 EDT
 Link: California defies Trump to ban pesticide linked to childhood brain damage
Stephan:   Here is some good news, albeit just about California. If one looks to the Red value states with their commitment to deny women the right to control their own bodies, and their uninterest in climate change or toxin regulation,  and compare it with the Blue value states that are protecting women's rights, preparing for climate change, and severely limiting the use of toxins, one sees the two Americas further defining themselves. I think we are going to begin to see people leaving Red value states for states more committed to fostering wellbeing.

Pesticide spraying at a grape vineyard in Tulare county, San Joaquin Valley, California.
Credit: Education Images/UIG via Getty

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — California is banning a widely used pesticide that has been linked to brain damage in children, a major victory for public health advocates who have long fought to outlaw the toxic chemical in the agricultural industry.

The state ban on chlorpyrifos, a pesticide used on almonds, citrus, cotton, grapes, walnuts and other crops, follows years of research finding the chemical causes serious health effects in children, including impaired brain and neurological development. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had moved to ban the chemical under Barack Obama, but the Trump administration reversed that effort, rejecting the scientific conclusions of its own government experts.

“Countless people have suffered as a result of this chemical,” the California EPA secretary, Jared Blumenfeld, said in an interview on Wednesday. “A lot of people live and work and go to school right next to fields that […]

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