Saturday, August 11, 2018

Courts hit pesticides hard

Two different U.S. courts have hit pesticides hard this month.
In one case, an appeals court has banned chlorpyrifos, better known to farmers as Lorsban.

And in the other case, a jury hit Monsanto with a $289-million judgement in the case of a landscape worker who claims Roundup caused his cancer.

Monsanto immediately said it will appeal, citing long years of Roundup use and more than 800 studies that found it's safe to use as directed.

The chlorpyrifos bans began in 2001 when the United States Environmental Protection Agency banned its use in households.
It's considered a risk to harm babies' brains, starting even before birth.

The Obama administration announced plans for a total ban, but the Trump administration cancelled that ban. That prompted California and a few other states to file the appeal that led to the current court decision to ban it.