New Jersey to Block Dangerous Pesticide Approved by Trump

One of the first things Donald Trump did when he came into office was to block the pesticide chlorpyrifos from being banned. On May 5^th twelve people in California suffered health impacts from a dangerous chemical approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On May 5, more than 50 farmworkers outside of Bakersfield, California, were exposed to the pesticide chlorpyrifos. The symptoms included nausea, vomiting, and fainting. The EPA was poised the ban the chemical last year after support from many scientists and environmental groups. However, under the Trump Administration and Scott Pruitt, the EPA changed its stance on the chemical and approved it instead. A bill to ban chlorpyrifos, A4794 (Eustace) has been introduced in the New Jersey legislature.

“A pesticide that was supposed to banned was allowed to go forward and poison people thanks to President Trump. 50 farmworkers were exposed to chlorpyrifos and at least a dozen got sick from it. Trump and Pruitt’s EPA approved a toxic chemical for use as a pesticide because they care more about the polluters than they do about the people of environment of this country. Chlorpyrifos is a dangerous insecticide that threatens the health of farmers and anyone else who encounters it. A dozen people have already gotten sick from it in California. The endocrine-disrupter chemical is especially dangerous to children and exposure during pregnancy can lead to stunted mental development,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “New Jersey can’t allow this deplorable situation to happen here. We’re glad to see our state legislators standing up to Trump and working to protect the people of New Jersey by banning the pesticide from being used here. The state bill to ban chlorpyrifos will be up on Thursday.”

Dow Chemical, the company who makes chlorpyrifos, has supported President Trump throughout his campaign. They gave $1 million to the president’s inaugural committee. Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris even attended a postelection Trump rally. Recently a federal court ruled that the EPA violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it approved the bee-killing insecticides neonicotinoids. Judge Maxine Chesney of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held that EPA had unlawfully issued 59 pesticide registrations between 2007 and 2012 for a wide variety of agricultural, landscaping and ornamental uses.

“New Jersey has to act to ban this dangerous chemical because the federal government has sold out to Dow Chemical and other polluters and poisoners to our environment. The Trump Administration has made it clear that they don’t value environmental or wildlife protections or the agencies that regulate them. Trump gave the pen killing the ban on chlorpyrifos directly to the head of Dow. They all cheered and now these people are sick. Since Trump has been elected, the EPA has worked for the polluters and not the environment,” said Jeff Tittel.

The head of the EPA Pruitt is an anti-environmental zealot whose job is to dismantle the EPA agency he is supposed to head. As Oklahoma’s Attorney General, he sued EPA 14 times against their rules and got the information from his lawsuits from the oil and gas industry. Now he won’t recuse himself from dealing with any of the rules that he’s suing against, which is a major conflict of interest. Now with this Congress, there will be no oversight on an EPA administrator who is trying to gut the EPA. Trump even nominated her son Neil Gorsuch to be a Supreme Court Judge, who may even share the same anti-regulatory values.

“The New Jersey Legislature is standing up against Trump and we will have to keep doing so. With Trump’s crony Scott Pruitt heading the EPA, we will see more situations like this one. We will see more dangerous chemicals approved, more rollbacks of important environmental protections, and more affects from climate change. Trump is trying to dismantle the agency step by step. By doing so, he is allowing more people to be put at risk by dangerous chemicals and environmental rollbacks. This pesticide is just the beginning of the EPA’s sell-out to polluters. Trump is rolling back climate protections, blocking clean energy, and allowing offshore drilling,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “This is only the beginning of the rollbacks from the Trump Administration. New Jersey will have to put up a green wall to protect us from the environmental and other threats of the Trump Administration.”

Contact: Jeff Tittel, 609-558-9100