skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Judge temporarily blocks effort to deport Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia student protests; Power of rural organizing reflected in SD carbon pipeline law; Safety at risk as budget cuts hit Indiana Dunes National Park; Barriers to tracking bird flu mount amid federal changes.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

House Democrats won't back the GOP budget bill. Ontario reacts to Trump trade moves by enacting energy export tariffs, and a new report finds mass deportations don t help the labor market.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Immigrant communities are getting advice from advocates as the reach of ICE expands, experts in rural America urge lawmakers to ramp up protections against elder abuse, and a multi-state arts projects seeks to close the urban-rural divide.

Farmworkers, Advocates Rejoice as CA Ends Sale of Chlorpyrifos

play audio
Play

Friday, October 11, 2019   

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Farmworkers' groups are celebrating the end of at least a decade-long battle to ban a toxic pesticide in California after the state Environmental Protection Agency announced a new deal with manufacturers of chlorpyrifos. The pesticide no longer will be sold to growers in California after Feb. 6.

Nayamin Martinez, director of the Central California Environmental Justice Network, said studies have linked chlorpyrifos to serious health effects in kids.

"It's a very dangerous chemical that can cause harm, especially in brain development, for unborn children and young children who live in close proximity where this pesticide is applied," she said.

Chlorpyrifos is widely used to control pests on a variety of crops, including alfalfa, almonds, citrus, cotton, grapes and walnuts. Farmers still can spray their existing stocks through the end of next year as long as they respect buffer zones. The state has dedicated $5 million for grant money to search for an environmentally friendly alternative.

In 2016 under President Barack Obama, the EPA had decided to ban chlorpyrifos nationwide, but President Donald Trump's first EPA director, Scott Pruitt, reversed the decision against the advice of the agency's scientists. Martinez noted that Dow Chemical, a chlorpyrifos manufacturer, donated $1 million for the Trump inauguration.

"Dow was one of the main contributors to Trump's administration fund," she said, "so it's not surprising that at a federal level, this didn't happen, more for a political reason than anything else."

Martinez said rural Fresno, Kern and Tulare counties are the top users of chlorpyrifos in the state, with especially high usage near the Central Valley towns of Lindsay, Orange Cove and Tranquility.

The CalEPA announcement is online at calepa.ca.gov.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A solar project in Dayton was made possible through a solar-power purchase agreement with IGS Energy, approved by the Dayton City Commission last Wednesday after a four-year evaluation process, including a feasibility study to ensure sufficient power capacity. (Yeivaz/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Ohio is seeing a growing number of solar energy projects, including the first utility-scale installation in Dayton, which will help power a key water …


Environment

play sound

Researchers at Colorado State University have found the state's nearly 23 million acres of forests are currently releasing more carbon dioxide into th…

Environment

play sound

Watchdog groups said the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection seems poised to allow coal company Keystone West Virginia to walk away f…


Statistics show males younger than 18 commit a large portion of property crimes, such as theft, burglary and vandalism, with higher arrest rates than females in most juvenile crime categories.
(melhak/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

A Missouri children's advocate is urging the justice system to focus on healing for youths, noting trauma and broken relationships often drive their …

play sound

New research finds Black working women still face rampant discrimination in the Golden State. The California Black Women's Collective Empowerment …

Advocacy groups said they lack confidence in Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vision for reforming the nation's food and agriculture system. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

By Nina B. Elkadi for Sentient.Broadcast version by Nadia Ramlagan for Kentucky News Connection reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service …

play sound

The future of a big carbon capture project in the Midwest was thrown off balance after a new South Dakota law was adopted. Rural property owners made …

Social Issues

play sound

Gov. Bill Lee has opted Tennessee out of the federal Summer EBT program and nonprofit groups in the state said they will work to fill the gap for …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021