Current Initiatives (as of 2025)

Earthjustice initiative to ban organophosphate pesticides
source

Organophosphates are a class of pesticides derived from World War II nerve agents that chemical companies then turned into pesticides. They are widely used on berries, citrus, peaches, tomatoes, and broccoli, to name a few. Decades of peer-reviewed studies show that even low-level exposure to organophosphates during pregnancy can harm children’s brain development. Farmworkers and rural communities can suffer acute poisonings from exposure to organophosphates through contaminated food, drinking water, and exposure to lingering residues in and around fields after spraying. Children are especially vulnerable.

The EPA’s own scientists found organophosphates pose serious health risks, even when used as directed. Yet instead of acting, the agency missed deadlines and delayed imposing critical safeguards. It banned chlorpyrifos in 2022, once one of the most widely used organophosphates, but has not yet reinstated the ban to address a court decision, despite its stated intention to do so by now. It proposed phasing out almost all uses of two organophosphates, acephate and dimethoate, by 2024, but never finalized the plans or proposed to address the harms of the rest of this class of toxic chemicals.

source

back in 2021 Earthjustice submitted a petition to EPA on behalf of farmworkers and public health groups asking it to ban organophosphate pesticides. In June 2025, after four years of agency inaction, we sued to compel the agency to act on our petition.