Attorney General Bonta Advocates to Fully Revoke Harmful Pesticide from Food Crops

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a multistate coalition of nine attorneys general in submitting a comment letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding EPA’s proposal to ban residue from the pesticide chlorpyrifos on only some common food crops, despite its known neurodevelopmental harms to children. EPA’s proposal would ban chlorpyrifos residue on 70 food crops, while allowing it on 11 others, specifically alfalfa, apple, asparagus, tart cherry, citrus, cotton, peach, soybean, strawberry, sugar beet, and spring and winter wheat. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has banned the application of chlorpyrifos on all food crops in California since late 2020. However, chlorpyrifos residues threaten Californians’ health through certain imported foods.

“The facts are clear: chlorpyrifos exposure poses a grave danger to a child’s health. This pesticide has no place in our food systems,” said Attorney General Bonta. “We cannot ignore the health implications and urge the EPA to fully eliminate this harmful pesticide.”   

Chlorpyrifos is acutely toxic and is associated with neurodevelopmental harms in children, with prenatal exposures causing lower birth weight, reduced IQ, loss of memory, attention disorders, and delayed motor development. Acute exposure can cause sweating, salivation, vomiting, low blood pressure and heart rate, seizures, and death. Exposure occurs through food residues, drinking water contamination, and agricultural spray drift, and agricultural or chemical workers may be additionally exposed through chlorpyrifos manufacturing and handling.

Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), EPA is required to show with reasonable certainty that aggregate exposure to chlorpyrifos from these crops will result in no harm. However, in this proposal, EPA improperly shifted its own duties under the FFDCA onto those seeking to have chlorpyrifos residues banned, claiming that there is no adequate data or scientific analysis to conclude that chlorpyrifos residue on the remaining 11 crops is unsafe.

In the letter, the attorneys general urge EPA to ban chlorpyrifos residue for all food crops because EPA has not made an adequate determination of safety to support the chlorpyrifos residue allowed for the 11 listed crops. The attorneys general also challenge EPA’s toxicological analysis as inadequate because it fails to identify a level of chlorpyrifos exposure that is safe for children. 

In sending today’s comment letter, Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of New York, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia. 

A copy of the letter can be found here.