EPA Bans Chlorpyrifos, Finally

Editor’s note: Since the publication of this piece in 2021, a legal challenge to the EPA’s ban was launched by agricultural and chemical industry lobby groups, which ultimately resulted in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals vacating the EPA’s ban on chlorpyrifos for food crops in 2023.. In December 2024, the EPA announced it would ban all uses of the insecticide except for 11 major food crops, including alfalfa, apples, asparagus, cherries, citrus, cotton, peaches, soybeans, strawberries, sugar beets, and wheat. While the agency says this will reduce chlorpyrifos application rates by more than 70 percent compared to historical usage, the 11 allowed crops make up the majority of chlorpyrifos sprayed in recent years, essentially rendering the partial ban meaningless.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced this week that it would finally ban the insecticide chlorpyrifos, which has been linked to a number of neurological disorders, especially in children. The chemical has been the target of environmental and health groups for decades, and the pesticide has been banned for home use since 2000. This long-awaited move comes as a result of legal action started in 2007, but delayed by the Trump administration until this year.

What is Chlorpyrifos?

Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate, a family of chemicals that includes nerve agents like sarin and VX that were originally developed as chemical weapons. It’s a highly effective insecticide, but it’s extremely dangerous for people too.

Chlorpyrifos exposures can also come through residues on produce and in drinking water. Because residues degrade over time, the risks are much lower, but they can still be harmful to children, pregnant women and others. In 2016, the EPA found that residues of the insecticide were far higher than what they deemed safe, making the ban even more urgent.

Farmworkers and others in their communities who have the highest pesticide exposures tend to be poor people of color with limited access to medical treatment and legal protection, so the ban is a critical victory for environmental justice.

A Long Regulatory Battle

The health risks of chlorpyrifos exposure have been well-documented for decades, and the EPA’s announcement banning chlorpyrifos is the culmination of a legal battle that started in 2007. While the Obama administration attempted to ban the pesticide in 2015, the decision was quickly reversed by the Trump administration’s EPA. While a court ordered the EPA to take action on the pesticide in 2018, the agency was deliberately slow to act. It then denied the order outright, stating chlorpyrifos was too important to ban and falsely claiming the evidence against it was unreliable despite several conclusive, peer-reviewed studies and multiple declarations from public health groups . A second court declaration this April criticized the agency’s “egregious delay” and insisted they either prove the chemical was safe or withdraw it. The agency’s new head, Michael Regan, took the second option, which will take effect in six months.

In the meantime, several states passed their own legislation banning the pesticide. With California — one of the largest markets for the chemical — and other states out of the game, the largest manufacturer of the chemical, Corteva, also announced it would stop making the chemical in 2020. The decision may have been influenced by the company’s desire to avoid legal battles over the pesticide, much like Bayer’s recent decision to discontinue residential formulations of its herbicide Roundup after several costly lawsuits alleging the main ingredient, glyphosate, caused cancer.

What Now?

The new rule doesn’t explicitly ban the sale of the pesticide or its use. Instead, it sets a zero-tolerance policy for chlorpyrifos residues on food products. It takes effect in six months, after which time any food found with residues can’t be sold. While this is essentially a ban on its use on agricultural products, the chemical may still be used on some non-food crops like cotton and Christmas trees, so people working on and living near these farms are still at risk. Farmers might continue to use the chemicals for another few months before the ban takes effect. Any unused chlorpyrifos after that point will need to be safely disposed of, though this presents contamination challenges if done improperly.

But with pressure to restrict neonicotinoids in the US increasing after a European ban, the action on chlorpyrifos is a good incentive for more farmers to focus on reducing chemical use overall through strategies like Integrated Pest Management, which relies on using beneficial insects and careful observation to minimize chemical usage. Though long overdue, the ban on chlorpyrifos is a good sign that Biden’s EPA will be more willing to go against the agrochemical industry in other big fights.

Top photo by sima/Adobe Stock.