Several activists groups, including the Pesticide Action Network and the Natural Resources Defense Council, filed a lawsuit today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit against the EPA in response to the agency’s decision last month to not immediately ban chlorpyrifos.

The lawsuit requests the court review the EPA’s decision to not ban the product immediately.  The insecticide is used on more than 50 fruit, nut, cereal and vegetable crops. This latest lawsuit once again extends litigation on the pesticide, which started in 2007 when activists petitioned the EPA to ban all chlorpyrifos tolerances. 

In April of this year, the court gave the EPA 90 days to respond to the petition. Last month, the agency said it will not ban the product, but instead expedite the registration review process under the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) that requires pesticides to be reregistered with the EPA every 15 years. A review is required to be completed by 2022, however a draft risk assessment could come as early as the summer of 2020.

The California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) announced last May it plans to totally ban the use the chlorpyrifos at some point in the near future. California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget requested $5.7 million to "support the transition" to other pest control measures and is proposing a working group to identify and recommend alternatives. A final date for the use of chlorpyrifos in California has not been determined. The agency said the process could take up to two years.  A significant concern about removal of the product from the market that is not commonly mentioned in the media is the likelihood that a significant amount of another type of insecticide may have to be used in larger quantities if chlorpyrifos were to be removed from the marketplace.