EPA has been ordered to cancel chlorpyrifos registrations within 60 days, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco ruled on Thursday the agency was not justified in maintaining the insecticide's registration "in the face of scientific evidence that its residue on food causes neurodevelopmental damage to children."

 

The EPA denied a petition filed by environmental groups on March 30, 2017, to ban the pesticide outright. The agency said in a statement at the time that farmers need chlorpyrifos and an agency that relies on "sound science" when making decisions.

 

That move was a surprising reversal from the stance of the EPA under the previous administration, which had indicated as recently as fall 2016 that it was prepared to issue a full ban on the pesticide.

 

Chlorpyrifos is the main ingredient in Dow AgroSciences' Lorsban insecticide, which targets pests such as soybean aphids, spider mites and corn rootworm.