New York Governor Andrew Cuomo this week vetoed a bill that would ban the use of chlorpyrifos in the state, while at the same time ordering the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to immediately start the regulatory process to revoke its aerial and other uses.

NAAA previously sent a letter to Gov. Cuomo, the New York Environmental Commissioner, and pesticide control officials explaining why it is imperative the governor veto the bill.  In his veto message Governor Cuomo said the bill “bypasses the rigorous process available to challenge an approved product and substitute the legislatures judgement for the expertise of chemists, health experts and other subject matter experts in the field.”

The governor’s directive to DEC orders the agency to “take immediate action to ban aerial use of chlorpyrifos. DEC will also have regulations in place to ban chlorpyrifos for all uses, except spraying apple tree trunks, by December 2020.” The time frame for this process is not set, but a public comment period is expected and NAAA will submit scientific data on the aerial safety of chlorpyrifos.  

At the same time, the European Union’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed voted last week to not renew the EU registration for chlorpyrifos, which is set to expire January 31, 2020. The European Commission is expected to finalize the regulation next month.

The vote comes after the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which carries out pesticide risk assessments in the EU, said in August that no safe exposure levels exist for chlorpyrifos.

Corteva Agriscience, a major chlorpyrifos manufacturer, said in a statement, “We are disappointed by the decision of the European Union not to renew the authorization of chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl. This decision denies EU growers access to yet another key tool to protect their crops. No active ingredient had been more thoroughly researched than chlorpyrifos and the EFSA conclusions do not match the conclusions of other major regulatory bodies.”

Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate insecticide that is used in more than 50 fruit, nut, cereal and vegetable crops and has been the subject of activist group attacks and controversy for many years.

The EPA announced over the summer it will not ban the use of chlorpyrifos, instead it will 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.