Great news! This year – for the first time since it was approved in 1965 – chlorpyrifos will not be used on food crops in the U.S.

Chlorpyrifos is now banned from use on any food sold in the U.S. (see Final Rule here and EPA summary here). This is a victory of science and the law over the poisonous profits of big agrochemical companies, and certainly there is much to celebrate. Food will be safer for our families. Farmworkers will be safer when working in the fields. Our rivers, lakes, and drinking water will be safer without chlorpyrifos running off fields into waterways. Even wildlife will be safer – birds, fish, and bees – without chlorpyrifos.

But this victory for health and safety has been delayed by over 20 years – decades of poisoned wildlife and people, especially children, could have been avoided with prudent early action.