LOS ANGELES — California regulators recommended new restrictions Thursday on a widely used pesticide blamed for harming the brains of babies. The Dow Chemical Co. pesticide currently used on about 60 different crops — including grapes, almonds and oranges — has increasingly come under fire from regulators, lawmakers and courts. Farmworkers in the nation’s leading agricultural state have been sickened several times in recent years when the pesticide drifted. The action by California comes as the state proposes designating chlorpyrifos as a “toxic air contaminant” that poses a risk of serious illness or death. In the meantime, the department is recommending county agriculture commissioners, who issue pesticide application permits, adopt the restrictions in January so they can protect health.

Source: National Post November 15, 2018 17:37 UTC