Largest Producer of Nerve-Damaging Pesticide to Stop Its Production

Workers in the farm and Latino civil rights advocates are not putting their flags down from years of fighting for the ban of Chlorpyrifos, a type of pesticide used widely by farmers. The pesticide had been closely associated with children's neurological issues.

Largest Producer Cancels Chlorpyrifos Production

When Corteva Agriscience, the pesticide's biggest producer, announced that it will cease the manufacture of the pesticide. Despite the discontinuation of the manufacture of its Chlorpyrifos products, it claims that all of their other products are safe. According to the company, their decision to cancel the production of the said product line was solely based on its negative sales performance in the market and not on the health issues it is tied with.

What is Chlorpyrifos?

The said pesticide was primarily used to kills worms and insects by attacking their nervous system. Its discontinuance announcement was made after California announced on Thursday that it will ban the said pesticide.

California, the largest agricultural state in the United States of America, is the second state in the country to ban chlorpyrifos.

Multiple studies have reported that prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos lowers the weight of a baby upon birth, lowers the baby's IQ, increases the chances of the occurrence of mental illnesses such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD.

Legal Fight for the Ban of Chlorpyrifos

The US government planned to ban chlorpyrifos in 2015. This decision was based on the results of the studies conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency saying that the pesticide can cause damage to the nervous system of a person. However, during the supposed implementation of the ban in 2017, it was rather scrapped.

An article from NBC News stated that the League of United Latin American Citizens' national president named Domingo Garcia released a statement on Tuesday. He said that the pesticide had been used for years by many Latino farmers for crops such as fruits, soybeans, corn, and other fruits. This had exposed its users and their families to the harmful chemical with a record of negatively affecting the neurological health of its users.

LULAC, the oldest civil rights organization of Latinos had been one of the groups who fought for the ban of chlorpyrifos for many years. Just last year, a lawsuit was filed against EPA for its refusal to the implement the ban, with one of the primary plaintiffs of the case being LULAC.

During that time, the court decided in favor of the advocate group. They released an order to stop the reproduction of the said pesticide and EPA had appealed to the decision.

The Fight is Still Not Over

According to Teresa Romero, the leader of the United Farm Workers, the decision of the largest manufacturer of the pesticide to stop its reproduction of the chemical is an important part of the victory of their group and its advocacy. However, she stressed that the fight for the complete ban of the chemical should still push through.

The thing is, as long as people are selling and using the pesticide, farmers and consumers will still be affected.