SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) California has a critical interest in ensuring that farmworkers and families are protected from the adverse effects of exposure to harmful pesticides.
(b) Chlorpyrifos and other organophosphate pesticides affect the nervous system through inhibition of cholinesterase, an enzyme required for proper nerve functioning.
Cholinesterase inhibition from exposure to organophosphorus pesticides can cause acute parasympathetic nervous system dysfunction, muscle weakness, seizures, coma, respiratory failure, and, in extreme cases, death.
(c) There is substantial scientific evidence, including from epidemiological studies, that chlorpyrifos threatens the healthy development of children. Chlorpyrifos is acutely toxic and associated with neurodevelopmental harm in children. Prenatal and early life exposure to chlorpyrifos is associated with elevated risks of reduced intelligence quotient, loss of working memory, delays in motor development, attention deficit disorders, and structural changes in the brain. Exposure during pregnancy to even low levels of chlorpyrifos that caused only minimal cholinesterase inhibition
in mothers can lead to measurable long-lasting and possibly permanent neurobehavioral and functional deficits in prenatally exposed children.
(d) Children and pregnant women can be exposed to chlorpyrifos through residues on food and contaminated drinking water. Children can be exposed to chlorpyrifos when their parents or siblings transport the pesticide into the home on their skin, clothing, and shoes. Children experience greater exposure to chlorpyrifos and other pesticides because, relative to adults, they eat, drink, and breathe more in proportion to their body weight.
(e) On April 1, 2019, the Department of Pesticide Regulation listed chlorpyrifos as a toxic air contaminant after California’s independent Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants found
that chlorpyrifos causes serious health effects in children and other sensitive populations at lower levels of exposure than previously understood.
(f) On August 14, 2019, the Department of Pesticide Regulation initiated cancellation proceedings for certain chlorpyrifos products.
(g) On October 9, 2019, the Department of Pesticide Regulation announced that it had reached a legal settlement with chlorpyrifos registrants, whereby sales of certain chlorpyrifos products would end by February 2020. In the same announcement, the department clarified that “products that apply chlorpyrifos in granular form ...
will be allowed to remain on the market.”
(h) Chlorpyrifos in granular form consists of granules either coated or saturated with chlorpyrifos. Chlorpyrifos in granular form takes longer to breakdown in the environment than chlorpyrifos in liquid form. Chlorpyrifos in granular form may persist in the environment for as long as 180 days.
(i) The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s November 2016 revised risk assessment for chlorpyrifos shows risks to workers who mix, load, and apply chlorpyrifos pesticide products, including chlorpyrifos pesticide products in granular form.
(j) There is scientific evidence that the use of chlorpyrifos, including the granular form of chlorpyrifos, presents a risk to farmworkers, children, and mothers.
(k) Since 1990, California has required the full reporting of agricultural pesticide use throughout the state. All agricultural pesticide use must be reported monthly to county agricultural commissioners, who in turn, report the data to the Department of Pesticide Regulation. Using this comprehensive pesticide use data, the Department of
Pesticide Regulation then prepares annual data summaries. Given the scientific evidence of the harm caused by chlorpyrifos, it is imperative that specific data on granular uses of chlorpyrifos be incorporated into this existing data gathering infrastructure.