SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Lawsuits filed Monday in California seek potential class-action damages from Dow Chemical and its successor company over a widely used bug killer linked to brain damage in children. Chlorpyrifos is approved for over 80 crops, including oranges, berries, grapes, soybeans, almonds, and walnuts. However, California banned sales of the pesticide last year and spraying of it this year.
Some other states, including New York, have moved to deny it. Stuart Calwell, lead attorney in the lawsuits, argued that its effects linger in Central Valley agricultural communities contaminated by chlorpyrifos during decades of use, with measurable levels still found in his clients’ homes. Lawyers project that at least 100,000 homes in the nation’s largest agricultural state may need to dispose of most of their belongings because they are contaminated with the pesticide. “e have found it in the houses, we have found it in carpet, in upholstered furniture, we found it in a teddy bear, and we found it on the walls and surfaces,” “Calwell said. “hen a little child picks up a teddy bear and holds on to it.
“ll that needs to be cleaned up, he says, because “i “it’s going away on its own. State records show 61 million pounds of the pesticide were applied from 1974 through 2017 in four counties where the lawsuits were filed, Calwell said. Officials with Dow and its affiliated Corteva Inc. did not immediately respond to calls and emails seeking comment. Corteva stopped producing the pesticide last year. The Delaware-based company was created after a merger of Dow Chemical and Dupont and had been the woworld’sargest manufacturer of chlorpyrifos. The company believes the product is safe and stopped production because of declining sales.
Scientific studies have shown that chlorpyrifos damages the brains of fetuses and children. It was first used in 1965 but was banned for household use in 2001. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency weighs whether to ban or declare the product safe, including for infants and children. In April, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the EPA to decide after studying the development for over a decade.
The Trump administration had halted the rule-making process. The lawsuits were filed on people in Fresno, Kings, Madera, and Tulare counties, though Calwell said they are a precursor to seeking class-action status. Aside from Dow-related companies, they name various farming companies that applied the chemical near the plplaintiffs’omes. In each case, the plaintiffs are parents suing on behalf of children who suffer from severe neurological injuries that the lawsuits blame for their exposure to the chemical while they were in the womb or when they were very young.
