New York stopped short of a full ban on a common golf course insecticide used to control caterpillars, but appears to moving in that direction.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Dec. 10 vetoed a bill from the state legislature calling for a ban on chlorpyrifos, a common tool in the fight to control armyworms. The governor went on to order the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to take steps toward developing its own ban, making New York the latest in a list of states to move toward banning the chemical after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decided earlier this year against canceling its registration.
The New York measure allows for a review process of the chemistry yet eliminates all aerial applications of the chemical in agricultural use and will ban all use of chlorpyrifos except as a spray on some fruit trees by mid-2021, effectively ending its availability to golf course superintendents in that state. All use of the chemistry, even in agriculture, will be banned some time after that depending on a plan yet to be developed by the DEC.
The governor wrote in the veto: "While I do not agree that a pesticide should be banned by legislative decree, I agree that New York must lead the way by taking action to assure the public that all regulatory options are taken to limit exposure to chlorpyrifos. The United States Environmental Protection Agency recently declined to revoke all food tolerance levels for chlorpyrifos on the basis that they did not have enough data to support revocation. However, EPA’s actions do not prevent New York from moving forward with its own review of this ingredient."
"Therefore, I am directing the DEC to take immediate action based on the data available on chlorpyrifos exposure ban aerial spraying, and take further regulatory action to ban its use for all purposes except apple tree trunk spraying by July 2021 and banning all uses as soon as possible. DEC must recommend a course of action and initiate action so that such measures are in place on a timeframe faster than that contained in this bill."
Opponents of chlorpyrifos say long-term exposure to the chemistry, which was patented by Dow in 1966, can cause neurological damage and claim that children are especially at risk. University research says it does not bind to the soil and is not commonly taken up by plants, but is a concern in runoff.
A request to ban the chemical was submitted by at least a dozen public advocacy groups as well as the states of New York, Washington, California, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland and Vermont in 2007. The EPA initially decided against a ban two years ago, and reiterated those same sentiments in July. At least six of those states mentioned here now are involved in a lawsuit against the EPA challenging its decision to allow the continued use of chlorpyrifos.
It was banned nationwide for use in the residential market a decade ago, but still is registered for professional use in 49 states. It is not registered for use in Alaska. Some states have initiated limited-use rules and lawmakers in Hawaii have enacted a statewide ban that will go into effect in 2022.