WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.), top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee overseeing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget, issued the following statement after the Trump EPA decided once again not to ban the toxic chemical chlorpyrifos. Udall has introduced the Protect Children, Farmers and Farmworkers from Nerve Agent Pesticides Act of 2019 to outlaw the use of chlorpyrifos nationwide.
“Just like it did under Scott Pruitt, the Trump EPA under Andrew Wheeler is doing the bidding of a handful of massive, multinational chemical corporations at the expense of the health and safety of our children and farmworkers. There is no excuse for the Trump administration keeping a toxic nerve agent like chlorpyrifos on the shelves and in our fields. The science on chlorpyrifos is clear and unambiguous: it damages the developing brains of children and causes serious health problems in those who have been exposed to it. It is clear that the Trump EPA will put the interests of Dow Chemical ahead of public health – so Congress must act urgently to pass my bill to ban this toxic chemical once and for all.”
