Michigan Healthcare

Expert: EPA flip-flop leaves children at risk from widely-used pesticide

Michigan Public | By Stateside Staff

Published June 6, 2017 at 5:00 PM EDT

How worried should the average consumer be about the effects of pesticides on their health?

Stateside's conversation with Laura Andreko, a professor at Georgetown University's School of Nursing and Health Studies, and director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment.

How worried should you be about pesticide residue on produce?

Yesterday, we spoke with a veteran food scientist who said not to be alarmed. Today, chlorpyrifosis the topic of conversation. It's a widely-used pesticide sold by Dow Chemical.

In late April, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt denied a petition that had been under consideration since 2007 to ban the pesticide from use on food crops. That represents a change of direction for the EPA.

After recent research showed that even small amounts of it can impair the mental development of young children, the EPA issued a revised assessment of the pesticide, in Nov. 2016, saying that it "shows risks from dietary exposure."

So, why did the EPA change course? And how dangerous is this pesticide?

Laura Andreko, professor at Georgetown University's School of Nursing and Health Studies and director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment, joined Stateside today to answer those questions.(Subscribe to the Stateside podcast oniTunes,Google Play, or with thisRSS link)