Chlorpyrifos is banned in the E.U. based on proven neurotoxicity with documented adverse effects on children.  Chlorpyrifos was to have been banned by the Obama Administration, but the EPA under the past Administration failed to initiate the process.  Chlorpyrifos has been the subject of litigation and is banned in California for application to food crops.

The Environmental Protection Agency intends to issue a rule banning the use of chlorpyrifos on food or feed crops and eventually to extend the ban for other applications including mosquito control.  The EPA acted following a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals forcing the Agency to issue a rule specifying chlorpyrifos residue levels.  Failure to determine risks of exposure to meet the safety standard of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the EPA elected to revoke approval for chlorpyrifos.

A group of 80 associations and organizations representing row crop agriculture are requesting the EPA to delay imposing a ban on chlorpyrifos application to food and feed crops.  The objection is based on interpretation of federal statutes and risk-based regulatory practices.  The consortium of agricultural groups maintain that chlorpyrifos is uniquely effective against soybean aphids and has called for a moratorium on any ban until the objections and concerns of the agricultural sector are addressed.  It is a matter of record that following withdrawal of chlorpyrifos in the EU, various crops were adversely affected by aphid infestation, reducing yields.  It is also a scientific reality that chlorpyrifos residues are neurotoxic and the conflicting objectives relating to crop yield and public health have yet to be reconciled.