[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 921 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 921
To prohibit the use of chlorpyrifos on food, to prohibit the
registration of pesticides containing chlorpyrifos, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 28, 2019
Mr. Udall (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Booker, Mr. Cardin, Mrs.
Feinstein, Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms. Harris, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Markey, Mr.
Merkley, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Whitehouse, and Mr. Durbin)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit the use of chlorpyrifos on food, to prohibit the
registration of pesticides containing chlorpyrifos, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Protect Children, Farmers, and
Farmworkers from Nerve Agent Pesticides Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds as follows:
(1) In 1996, Congress unanimously passed the Food Quality
Protection Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-170; 110 Stat. 1489)
(referred to in this section as ``FQPA''), a comprehensive
overhaul of Federal pesticide and food safety policy. That Act
amended the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
(7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.) (referred to in this section as
``FIFRA'') and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21
U.S.C. 301 et seq.), the laws that govern how the Environmental
Protection Agency (referred to in this section as the ``EPA'')
registers pesticides and pesticide labels for use in the United
States and establishes tolerances or acceptable levels for
pesticide residues on food.
(2) The FQPA directs the EPA to ensure with ``reasonable
certainty'' that ``no harm'' will result from food, drinking
water, and other exposures to a pesticide. If the EPA cannot
make this safety finding, it must prohibit residues and use of
the pesticide on food. The FQPA mandates that the EPA must
consider children's special sensitivity and exposure to
pesticide chemicals and must make an explicit determination
that the pesticide can be used with a ``reasonable certainty of
no harm'' to children. In determining acceptable levels of
pesticide residue, the EPA must account for the potential
health harm from pre- and postnatal exposures. The economic
benefits of pesticides cannot be used to override this health-
based standard for children from food and other exposures.
(3) Chlorpyrifos is a widely used pesticide first
registered by the EPA in 1965. Chlorpyrifos is an
organophosphate pesticide, a class of pesticides developed as
nerve agents in World War II and adapted for use as
insecticides after the war. Chlorpyrifos and other
organophosphate pesticides affect the nervous system through
inhibition of cholinesterase, an enzyme required for proper
nerve functioning. Acute poisonings occur when nerve impulses
pulsate through the body, causing symptoms like nausea,
vomiting, convulsions, respiratory paralysis, and, in extreme
cases, death. Based on dozens of peer-reviewed scientific
articles, the EPA determined that exposure during pregnancy to
even low levels of chlorpyrifos that caused only minimal
cholinesterase inhibition (10 percent or less) in the mothers
could lead to measurable long-lasting and possibly permanent
neurobehavioral and functional deficits in prenatally exposed
children.
(4) People, including pregnant women, are exposed to
chlorpyrifos through residues on food, contaminated drinking
water, and toxic spray drift from nearby pesticide
applications. Chlorpyrifos is used on an extensive variety of
crops, including fruit and nut trees, vegetables, wheat,
alfalfa, and corn. Between 2006 and 2012, chlorpyrifos was
applied to more than 50 percent of the Nation's apple and
broccoli crops, 45 percent of onion crops, 46 percent of walnut
crops, and 41 percent of cauliflower crops.
(5) Chlorpyrifos is acutely toxic and associated with
neurodevelopmental harms in children. Prenatal exposure to
chlorpyrifos is associated with elevated risks of reduced IQ,
loss of working memory, delays in motor development, attention-
deficit disorders, and structural changes in the brain.
(6) There is no nationwide chlorpyrifos use reporting. The
United States Geological Survey estimates annual pesticide use
on agricultural land in the United States, and estimates that
chlorpyrifos use on crops in 2014 ranged from 5,000,000 to
7,000,000 pounds of chlorpyrifos.
(7) In its 2016 report, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide,
and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel recognized ``the
growing body of literature with laboratory animals (rats and
mice) indicating that gestational and/or early postnatal
exposure to chlorpyrifos may cause persistent effects into
adulthood along with epidemiology studies which have evaluated
prenatal chlorpyrifos exposure in mother-infant pairs and
reported associations with neurodevelopment outcomes in infants
and children.''.
(8) Chlorpyrifos has long been of concern to the EPA.
Residential uses of chlorpyrifos ended in 2000 after the EPA
found unsafe exposures to children. The EPA also discontinued
use of chlorpyrifos on tomatoes and restricted its use on
apples and grapes in 2000, and obtained no-spray buffers around
schools, homes, playfields, day cares, hospitals, and other
public places, ranging from 10 to 100 feet. In 2015, the EPA
proposed to ban all chlorpyrifos food tolerances, based on
unsafe drinking water contamination, which would end use of
chlorpyrifos on food in the United States. After updating the
risk assessment for chlorpyrifos in November 2016 to protect
against prenatal exposures associated with brain impacts, the
EPA found that expected residues from use on food crops
exceeded the safety standard, and additionally the majority of
estimated drinking water exposures from currently allowed uses
of chlorpyrifos also exceeded acceptable levels, reinforcing
the need to revoke all food tolerances for the pesticide.
(9) Chlorpyrifos threatens the healthy development of
children. Children experience greater exposure to chlorpyrifos
and other pesticides because, relative to adults, they eat and
drink more proportional to their body weight. A growing body of
evidence shows that prenatal exposure to very low levels of
chlorpyrifos can lead to lasting and possibly permanent
neurological impairments. In November 2016, the EPA released a
revised human health risk assessment for chlorpyrifos that
confirmed that there are no acceptable uses for the pesticide,
all food uses exceed acceptable levels, with children ages 1 to
2 exposed to levels of chlorpyrifos that are 140 times what the
EPA considers acceptable.
(10) Chlorpyrifos threatens agricultural workers. Farm
workers are exposed to chlorpyrifos from mixing, handling, and
applying the pesticide, as well as from entering fields where
chlorpyrifos was recently sprayed. Chlorpyrifos is one of the
pesticides most often linked to acute pesticide poisonings, and
in many States, it is regularly identified among the 5
pesticides linked to the highest number of pesticide poisoning
incidents. This is significant given widespread underreporting
of pesticide poisonings due to such factors as inadequate
reporting systems, fear of retaliation from employers, and
reluctance to seek medical treatment. According to the EPA, all
workers who mix and apply chlorpyrifos are exposed to unsafe
levels of the pesticide even with maximum personal protective
equipment and engineering controls. Field workers are currently
allowed to re-enter fields within 1 to 5 days after
chlorpyrifos is sprayed based on current restricted entry
intervals on the registered chlorpyrifos labels but unsafe
exposures continue on average 18 days after applications.
(11) Chlorpyrifos threatens families in agricultural
communities. Rural families are exposed to unsafe levels of
chlorpyrifos on their food and in their drinking water. They
are also exposed to toxic levels of chlorpyrifos when it drifts
from the fields to homes, schools, and other places people
gather. The EPA's 2016 revised human health risk assessment
found that chlorpyrifos drift reaches unsafe levels at 300 feet
away from the edge of the treated field, and the chemical
chlorpyrifos is found at unsafe levels in the air at schools,
homes, and communities in agricultural areas. The small buffers
put in place in 2012 leave children unprotected from this toxic
pesticide drift.
(12) Chlorpyrifos threatens drinking water. The EPA's 2014
and 2016 risk assessments have found that chlorpyrifos levels
in drinking water are unsafe. People living and working in
agricultural communities are likely to be exposed to higher
levels of chlorpyrifos and other organophosphate pesticides in
their drinking water.
(13) In 2015, leading scientific and medical experts, along
with children's health advocates, came together, under
``Project TENDR: Targeting Environmental Neuro-Developmental
Risks'' (referred to in this section as ``TENDR''), to issue a
call to action to reduce widespread exposures to chemicals that
interfere with fetal and children's brain development. Based on
the available and peer-reviewed scientific evidence, the TENDR
authors identified prime examples of neurodevelopmentally toxic
chemicals ``that can contribute to learning, behavioral, or
intellectual impairment, as well as specific neurodevelopmental
disorders such as ADHD or autism spectrum disorder,'' and
listed organophosphate pesticides, among them. In 2018, leading
scientists involved with TENDR published an article in PLOS
Medicine that found that prenatal exposure to organophosphate
pesticides such as chlorpyrifos, even at low levels that were
previously considered safe, are putting children at risk for
cognitive and behavioral deficits and neurodevelopmental
disorders. The scientists recommended phasing out chlorpyrifos.
(14) In August 2018, based on overwhelming findings that
chlorpyrifos is unsafe for public health, and particularly
harmful to children and farmworkers, the United States Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered the EPA to move forward
with a ban of chlorpyrifos, stating that ``the time has come to
put a stop to this patent evasion'' of the law. However,
instead of complying with the court order, the EPA has appealed
the ruling.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF CHLORPYRIFOS ON FOOD.
Section 402 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C.
342) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(j) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if it bears or
contains chlorpyrifos, including any residue of chlorpyrifos, or any
other added substance that is present on or in the food primarily as a
result of the metabolism or other degradation of chlorpyrifos.''.
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON REGISTRATION OF PESTICIDES CONTAINING
CHLORPYRIFOS.
Section 3(f) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act (7 U.S.C. 136a(f)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(5) Prohibition on registration of pesticides containing
chlorpyrifos.--
``(A) In general.--The Administrator shall not
register under this Act any pesticide containing
chlorpyrifos as an active ingredient.
``(B) Cancellation of registrations.--The
Administrator shall cancel the registration under this
Act of any pesticide containing chlorpyrifos as an
active ingredient.
``(C) Administration.--The Administrator shall
carry out subparagraph (B) without regard to sections
6(a)(1), 6(b), and 15.''.
SEC. 5. PESTICIDES AND DEVICES INTENDED FOR EXPORT.
(a) In General.--Section 17(a) of the Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. 136o(a)) is amended--
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as
subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, and indenting
appropriately;
(2) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) (as so
redesignated), by striking ``Notwithstanding'' and inserting
the following:
``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (3),
notwithstanding'';
(3) in the undesignated matter following paragraph (1)(B)
(as so designated), by striking ``A copy of that statement''
and inserting the following:
``(2) Transmission to appropriate official.--A copy of the
statement described in paragraph (1)(B)''; and
(4) by adding at the end the following:
``(3) Exception for pesticides containing chlorpyrifos.--
Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any pesticide containing
chlorpyrifos as an active ingredient.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 3(f)(4) of the Federal
Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. 136a(f)(4)) is
amended in the undesignated matter following subparagraph (B) by
striking ``17(a)(2)'' and inserting ``17(a)(1)(B)''.
SEC. 6. EXEMPTION OF FEDERAL AND STATE AGENCIES.
Section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act (7 U.S.C. 136p) is amended in the first sentence by inserting
``(except with respect to any pesticide containing chlorpyrifos as an
active ingredient)'' after ``provision of this Act''.
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