Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt’s rejection of a petition to completely ban chlorpyrifos, a widely-used insecticide prohibited for use in U.S. homes in 2001 due to its human toxicity and links to neurological harms, is proof that the political appointee and rampant nepotism in the United States political system is causing drastic failures. Pruitt, appointed by President Donald Trump as head of the EPA, was confirmed by the Senate 52 to 46 on February 17. Since then, Pruitt has been busy dismantling the agency and dismissing the scientific conclusions of the agency’s own chemical safety experts.
EPA experts recommended that chlorpyrifos be permanently banned at farms nationwide because of the harm it can cause children and farmers. By ignoring these conclusions, Pruitt has not only rejected the ban but rejected systematic science. He chooses to endanger workers , residents of agricultural communities, and the general population through food treated with this insecticide.
Pruitt is employing the Republican doctrine that environmental decisions should be made at the state level instead of federally by the EPA, much to the chagrin of environmentalists. The issue isn’t whether federal or state government should be instituting environmental laws — it's the fact that the American people, as part of a representative democracy, should have a direct say in who is controlling decisions regarding their health, the environment, and the food they eat.