Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit court issued a decision to vacate the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) 2017 order maintaining tolerances for the pesticide chlorpyrifos, and remanded to the EPA with directions to revoke all tolerances and cancel all registrations for chlorpyrifos within 60 days.
It is important for all stakeholders to note that all approved uses and tolerances remain intact until the US EPA makes a final decision. The US EPA has options to challenge this decision. This decision does not require immediate change to uses of chlorpyrifos. We will continue to provide additional updates as we learn more.
Chlorpyrifos is a critical pest management tool used by growers around the world to manage a large number of pests, and regulatory bodies in 79 countries have looked at the science, carefully evaluated the product and its significant benefits and continued to approve its use. We note that this was a split decision of the panel and we agree with the dissenting judge’s opinion. We expect that all appellate options to challenge the majority’s decision will be considered. We will continue to support the growers who need this important product.