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Two environmental advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit demanding the Environmental Protection Agency ban a toxic insecticide widely used in the apple industry.
The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Pesticide Action Network North America have filed a lawsuit demanding regulators act on a three-year-old petition to remove the chemical chlorpyrifos from the market entirely.
Residential application of the chemical was banned in 2001, but it remains widely used in the commercial apple industry nationwide. The chemical is marketed under the name Lorsban by Dow Chemical Co.
According to a report at Yakima Herald-Republic, the chemical is used in two-thirds of the Washington state apple crop. The state is the nation’s largest apple grower.
Lorsban is applied to apple trees in the early Spring, typically the most critical in the phase of apples, and is restricted from being used any other time of the year, specifically when the trees begin flowering and producing fruit, usually around this time of year.
Poisoning from Lorsban can result in muscle spasms, dizziness, seizures, vomiting, diarrhea and paralysis.
The advocacy groups first asked the EPA for a full ban in 2007, and the agency has not acted on that petition. Ten years ago, the EPA did act to restrict when the insecticide can be applied. The chemical is also used in the control of pests in other tree fruits like pears.
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