If you’re careful about what you feed your children, here’s important news: For the first time since the 1960s, a federal judge has ordered a ban on a pesticide used on crops such as apples, corn, broccoli and asparagus. According to experts, exposure to this chemical can cause serious damage to children’s physical and cognitive development.
In a groundbreaking move on Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its ban on all food-related use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos “to better protect human health, especially for children and farm workers,” the EPA said. The ban will take effect in six months to ban what The New York Times calls “one of the most widely used pesticides” that kills insects and worms on many summer food crops. Keep reading for all the details and for more health news, do not miss the best # 1 supplement for your brain, according to a doctor.
Chlorpyrifos can impair children’s neurological development.
While chlorpyrifos may have been a reliable solution to pests, decades of research have shown that it harms children’s development. As a consumer advocacy organization, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), shared in a statement they submitted to Eat this, not that!: “Even in small amounts, exposure to chlorpyrifos during pregnancy and early life damages the developing brain, including decreased IQ, delayed development of motor and sensory functions, and social and behavioral dysfunction.”
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Many figures have fought to ban the pesticide.
Chlorpyrifos has been used since 1965 and has been a subject of controversy between the government, the health authorities and the voices in the agricultural industry. In recent years, the Trump administration has supported farmers’ use of the chemical – a position that Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Jed S. Rakoff called the previous administration’s attempt to “avoid its simple statutory tasks by one delay tactic after another.”
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Consumer advocates applaud the ban on what the EWG calls a “dangerous bug killer”.
In another statement Eat this, not that! The environmental working group called the decision to ban food-related use of chlorpyrifos an “important and courageous decision by the Biden EPA.”
They added: “The most important lesson for the public to take away from today’s decision is that the government insisted that chlorpyrifos in the food was completely safe, until it was banned for being too dangerous … Science did not keep this toxic insecticide on the market and in our food for decades. Politics and money did it. “
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What foods chlorpyrifos are currently used on …
As Newsweek and other sources report, chlorpyrifos is often used on row crops such as broccoli and cauliflower, soybeans, nuts, fruits that come from trees and more.
However, after the ban came into force, it is reported that chlorpyrifos will still be legal for non-food use, for example on grass and golf courses.
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