In a one-page order, the U.S. appeals court in San Francisco set Dec. 30, 2016, as the deadline for the EPA to respond to a petition by two environmental groups calling for a ban on chlorpyrifos, an insecticide, reports Agri-Pulse. The court order effectively formalized an EPA statement earlier this year that it planned to issue a final rule by the end of 2016. In October, the agency proposed revocation of food tolerances for the insecticide. Dow AgroSciences has said it was confident in the safety of its insecticide and would support the EPA review of chlorpyrifos “with state of the art data for high-quality regulatory assessments.”
An organophosphate, chlorpyrifos, which was first registered in the United States in 1965, is used against insects such as termites, mosquitos and roundworms. The chemical is used on food and feed crops, says the National Pesticide Information Center. It is blamed for causing neurological problems, include developmental issues in children.