March 29, 2024 | 13:31 GMT +7

  • Click to copy
Thursday- 14:08, 15/07/2021

Pesticide caused kids’ brain damage, California lawsuits say

(VAN) 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.
A foreman watches workers pick fruit in an orchard in Arvin, Calif. Photo: AP/Damian Dovarganes

A foreman watches workers pick fruit in an orchard in Arvin, Calif. Photo: AP/Damian Dovarganes

Chlorpyrifos is approved for use on more than 80 crops, including oranges, berries, grapes, soybeans, almonds and walnuts, though California banned sales of the pesticide last year and spraying of it this year. Some other states, including New York, have moved to ban 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.

“We 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. “Then a little child picks up a teddy bear and holds on to it.”

All that needs to be cleaned up, he says, because “it’s not 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 telephone and email requests 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 world’s largest manufacturer of chlorpyrifos. The company has said it believes the product is safe and said it 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 US Environmental Protection Agency is weighing whether to ban the product or declare it safe, including for infants and children. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in April ordered the EPA to make a decision after studying the product for more than a decade. The Trump administration had halted the rule-making process.

The lawsuits were filed on behalf of 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 they say applied the chemical near the plaintiffs’ homes.

In each case, the plaintiffs are parents suing on behalf of children who suffer from severe neurological injuries that the lawsuits blame on their exposure to the chemical while they were in the womb or when they were very young.

Aside from nearby spraying, the lawsuits say the parent, relatives or others in frequent contact with the child worked in the fields or packing plants and became contaminated with the chemical that they passed on to the child.

Calwell filed related lawsuits last fall on behalf of farmworkers who his firm said “spent years marinating in the pesticide.”

The first of those related lawsuits blames chlorpyrifos for causing autism, cognitive and intellectual disabilities in a now-teenager born in 2003.

The teen’s father worked spraying pesticides on farm fields and his mother packed what the lawsuit says was chlorpyrifos-covered produce in a facility surrounded by fields treated with the pesticide, often applied by aerial spraying.

Calwell similarly sued Monsanto for damages he alleged it caused to homes in Nitro, West Virginia, with its use of dioxin to make the defoliant known during the Vietnam War era as Agent Orange.

That case settled for $93 million, with Monsanto paying to decontaminate 4,500 homes, a fraction of those that he alleges in California will require more extensive decontamination followed by medical monitoring.

Tr.D

(New York Post)

Drought and salinity prolong, the resistance of rivers is gradually narrowing

Drought and salinity prolong, the resistance of rivers is gradually narrowing

(VAN) If the rainy season comes late and drought and salinity prolong, the resistance of rivers and people's water reserves will be affected.

Enormous offshore aquaculture cages await... policy support

Enormous offshore aquaculture cages await... policy support

(VAN) Nguyen Ba Ngoc has recently unveiled Vietnam's largest cage. The aspiration to establish a marine farming industrial park is materializing. However, it lacks the crucial element known as policy.

Vietnamese enterprises rank 2nd in the world in terms of brand in the telecommunications field

Vietnamese enterprises rank 2nd in the world in terms of brand in the telecommunications field

(VAN) Viettel is ranked the 2nd strongest telecommunications brand in the world by Brand Finance, surpassing many big names such as Swisscom (Switzerland), Jio (India), STC (Saudi Arabia).

Wildlife trafficking: High penalty, but still many violations

Wildlife trafficking: High penalty, but still many violations

(VAN) Under many disguises, wildlife is still being hunted and traded, and it becomes bar snacks and medicine for many people.

8 boats fined for over VND 340 million for fishing violations

8 boats fined for over VND 340 million for fishing violations

(VAN) The functional forces arrested and handled 6 cases involving 8 vessels and vehicles, issuing decisions to fine over VND 340 million for violations

Vietnam is the 'hotspot' for zoonotic disease transmission

Vietnam is the 'hotspot' for zoonotic disease transmission

(VAN) Vietnam is a hotspot for infectious disease transmission, notably zoonotic diseases such as A/H5N1, SARS, rabies, anthrax, plague, parasitic infections, and so on.

Mexican Sapoche can withstand salinity levels of 5 - 6‰

Mexican Sapoche can withstand salinity levels of 5 - 6‰

(VAN) Mr Tran Van Kha (Dong Hoa hamlet, Tien Giang province) is a local pioneer farmer growing Mexican sapoche varieties for high economic efficiency.

Read more