Carper Applauds Court Order to Revoke EPA’s Decision to Reverse Proposed Ban of Pesticide

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, released the following statement after the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban all remaining uses of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide used on certain food crops and non-agricultural sites that has been linked to neurological damage and other adverse health impacts. Judge Jed S. Rakoff cited patent evasion, and a lack of science in the order against EPA’s decision to reverse the Obama Administration’s proposed ban of the pesticide. 

“It was obvious from the start that former Administrator Scott Pruitt’s decision to undo the ban of chlorpyrifos – a pesticide that has been found to damage developing brains of children – was not based on sound science or sound legal reasoning, but today’s court order makes it official,” said Senator Carper. “Policies put in place by the agency responsible for protecting our environment and public health should always be based on the best science available and the rule of law – not just imposed on a whim.”  

In April of 2017, Senator Carper wrote the agency’s former Administrator Scott Pruitt to request more information on its decision to reverse a proposed ban on the remaining uses of chlorpyrifos, noting that Pruitt’s decision went against the recommendation made by EPA’s own scientists in 2015 that called for a total ban on all remaining uses of the pesticide.

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