"EPA Report Finds Pesticide Poses Risk To Workers, Spurs Calls for Ban"

"An insecticide used on corn and other U.S. crops poses health risks to workers who mix and apply it and also can contaminate drinking water, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report released this week.

The report is an update, based on new research, to a 2011 assessment of the health impacts of the pesticide chlorpyrifos (pronounced KLOR – pie -ra – phos), which remains one of the most commonly applied organophosphate pesticides. It has been banned for more than a decade for household use but is still used commercially on corn, soybeans, fruit and nut trees and some golf courses.

The findings may mean more restrictions to protect worker's health and drinking water sources as the pesticide undergoes its registration review, a licensing process required of pesticides by the EPA."

Brian Bienkowski reports for Environmental Health News January 8, 2015.