New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, announced a bill on Wednesday to effectively ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos from school food. The bill would prohibit schools from buying and serving food that contains any detectable residue of the chemical.
“As the mother of two sons, it’s alarming that the food in school meals could contain even a trace of a chemical that could harm students’ development and ability to learn,” said Gillibrand.
Environmentalists petitioned the EPA in 2007 to ban chlorpyrifos, an insecticide that is used on more than 50 crops. In 2015, the Obama administration decided to ban the use of chlorpyrifos on food crops, but the Trump administration decided in 2017 to allow its continued use.
Last week, the California Senate Health Committee approved a bill to ban the use of pesticides containing chlorpyrifos in the state, said the Marysville Appeal-Democrat. The bill would build on regulations that bar the use of the insecticide on most crops. Growers are still allowed to use it to control specific pests on such crops as alfalfa, almonds, asparagus, and citrus.