What’s on Your Citrus Fruit? Trump’s EPA Fights to Keep Controversial Insecticide in Use
Citrus growers hope to fend off fruit-munching katydids, but one weapon is under scrutiny. Researchers found that children growing up near fields where the insecticide chlorpyrifos was deployed exhibited autism-like symptoms. A court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the insecticide’s use, but Trump’s EPA is fighting back. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports.
October 10, 2018 | Source: PBS News Hour | by Miles O'Brien
Citrus growers hope to fend off fruit-munching katydids, but one weapon is under scrutiny. Researchers found that children growing up near fields where the insecticide chlorpyrifos was deployed exhibited autism-like symptoms. A court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the insecticide’s use, but Trump’s EPA is fighting back. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports.
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Amna Nawaz:
Finally, the risk of potent pesticides long used in agriculture.
Miles O’Brien looks at why they’re considered a key weapon in a farmer’s arsenal, despite real health concerns.
It’s our weekly look at the Leading Edge of science.
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Miles O’Brien:
It’s always harvest time in California’s Central Valley, the nation’s fruit basket, but little else is certain here.
Just asked grower Bob Blakely.
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Bob Blakely:
I mean, if you had a million dollars, you would be better off going to Las Vegas and gambling it then you would be going out here and becoming a citrus grower.