{"id":81655,"date":"2017-06-10T15:32:59","date_gmt":"2017-06-10T19:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=81655"},"modified":"2017-06-06T20:59:46","modified_gmt":"2017-06-07T00:59:46","slug":"schneiderman-challenges-trump-epa-over-toxic-pesticide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=81655","title":{"rendered":"Schneiderman challenges Trump EPA over toxic pesticide"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Coalition Of Seven AGs Charge EPA With Violating Federal Law By Failing To Issue Required Safety Finding On Chlorpyrifos \u2013 Common Pesticide That Causes Well-Documented Harms To Children\u2019s Neurological Development<\/em><\/p>\n

EPA Administrator Pruitt Continues To Allow Levels Of Chlorpyrifos On Food Such As Fruit, Even Though EPA\u2019s Own Scientists Are Unable To Identify A Safe Level<\/em><\/p>\n

Schneiderman: If The Trump Administration Won\u2019t Follow The Law, We Will Fight Back<\/em><\/p>\n

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, leading a coalition of seven state Attorneys General, announced a challenge to President Trump\u2019s Environmental Protection Agency for violating federal law regarding toxic pesticides. Chlorpyrifos, a widely-used pesticide on food crops \u2013\u00a0including those consumed by infants, young children, and pregnant women \u2013\u00a0is shown to negatively impact proper development and functioning of the central nervous system and brain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe EPA\u2019s first job is ensuring the health and safety of New Yorkers and all Americans \u2013 especially our children. Yet the Trump administration is jeopardizing our children’s health by allowing continued exposure to this toxic pesticide at levels it has not found to be safe,\u201d said Attorney General Schneiderman.\u00a0\u201cIf the Trump Administration won\u2019t follow the law \u2013 and put our children\u2019s wellbeing first \u2013 we will fight back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joining Attorney General Schneiderman in the challenge are the Attorneys General of California, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington, and Vermont. Click here to read the filing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Attorneys General charge that the EPA failed to make a key safety finding needed to continue to allow levels of chlorpyrifos, a common agricultural pesticide, on fruits and vegetables consumed by the public.\u00a0 The federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (Food Act) requires EPA to revoke allowable levels \u2013 or \u201ctolerances\u201d \u2013 for pesticide residues on foods if the Agency is unable to determine that the levels are safe.<\/p>\n

The public health dangers of chlorpyrifos are well-documented, with EPA\u2019s own scientists twice being unable to identify a safe level for the pesticide on food. In November 2015 and again in November 2016, EPA issued proposed regulations to revoke all tolerances and no longer allow chlorpyrifos to be used on food. However, in one of his first official acts, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt disregarded those proposals and decades of accumulated scientific evidence and \u2013 citing \u201cuncertainty\u201d in chlorpyrifos\u2019 toxicity \u2013 issued an order putting off until October 2022, if not longer, any decision on whether to revoke or modify current food tolerances for the pesticide.<\/p>\n

In their challenge announced today, the Attorneys General argue that the Administrator\u2019s order leaving in place current tolerances for chlorpyrifos residues on food violates the Food Act because it fails to include the finding of safety required to maintain these tolerances.<\/p>\n

Chlorpyrifos is one of the most widely used insecticides in the United States on numerous food crops, including those consumed by infants and young children such as apples, strawberries, cherries, bananas, pears, peaches, nectarines, and cherries.\u00a0 Residues of the pesticide have repeatedly been documented in baby foods and juices.\u00a0 Chlorpyrifos has been subjected to regulatory review for nearly 20 years, and its toxic harms are well-documented.\u00a0 The pesticide acts by inhibiting an enzyme that is key to the proper development and functioning of the central nervous system and brain.\u00a0 Columbia University studies have shown that children born to women exposed to chlorpyrifos during pregnancy had cognitive and motor development delays in the first 3 years, and structural changes in the brain, lower working memory and IQ scores at age seven, and movement disorders (including arm tremors) at age eleven.<\/p>\n

In 2007, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Pesticide Action Network North America filed a petition with EPA requesting revocation of chlorpyrifos food tolerances under the Food Act. The groups later had to sue EPA to force action on the petition.\u00a0In 2015 and again in 2016, EPA issued notices of proposed rulemaking to revoke all tolerances for the pesticide on food because the Agency was unable to identify a safe level of chlorpyrifos on food. Significantly, the 2016 notice stated that \u201cEPA can only retain chlorpyrifos tolerances if it is able to conclude that such tolerances are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite EPA\u2019s certainty that it could not find the current chlorpyrifos food tolerances safe under the Food Act, on March 29, 2017, roughly a month after his confirmation, Administrator Pruitt issued an order abruptly changing position on the proposed regulations and denying the administrative petition by the environmental groups to revoke the current tolerances for chlorpyrifos on food. He effectively left the tolerances in place indefinitely.<\/p>\n

The coalition of Attorneys General is challenging Administrator Pruitt\u2019s order as a violation of the Food Act because it leaves current food tolerances for chlorpyrifos in effect without finding that they are safe. The coalition contends that the Food Act does not give EPA the authority to leave tolerances in place in the absence of a finding of safety.\u00a0 Their filing argues that the Act requires the Agency to either find tolerances on food safe or it must revoke or modify the current tolerances; there is no provision in the Food Act allowing the Trump EPA to do what it has done by leaving tolerances in effect but not making a safety finding.<\/p>\n

The coalition\u2019s challenge, which was filed with EPA, requests that the Agency vacate its recent order that left chlorpyrifos residue tolerances in effect without finding them safe. The Attorneys General further request that EPA issue a final order within 60 days on the State coalition\u2019s objections and a final regulation revoking tolerances for chlorpyrifos on food.<\/p>\n

This matter is being handled by New York Assistant Attorney General Maureen F. Leary and Environmental Scientist Jennifer Nalbone under the supervision of the Lemuel M. Srolovic, Chief of the Attorney General\u2019s Environmental Protection Bureau. The Bureau is part of the Division of Social Justice, which is led by Executive Deputy Attorney General for Social Justice Alvin Bragg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coalition Of Seven AGs Charge EPA With Violating Federal Law By Failing To Issue Required Safety Finding On Chlorpyrifos \u2013 Common Pesticide That Causes Well-Documented Harms To Children\u2019s Neurological Development EPA Administrator Pruitt Continues To Allow Levels Of Chlorpyrifos On Food Such As Fruit, Even Though EPA\u2019s Own Scientists Are Unable To Identify A Safe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23810,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wellbeing","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}