November 14, 2017 - 12:54 PM
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's administration is seeking a two-year delay of an upcoming deadline to determine whether a family of widely used pesticides is harmful to endangered species.
The request filed with a federal judge comes after Dow Chemical and two other pesticide makers asked the government to set aside research by federal scientists that shows chlorpyrifos (klohr-PY'-rih-fohs) , diazinon (DY'-az-uh-nahn, and malathion (MAL'-uh-thy-ahn) are harmful to about 1,800 critically threatened or endangered species.
Midland, Michigan-based Dow Chemical contends the studies are flawed.
It is the latest example of the Trump administration seeking to block or delay environmental rules at the industry's behest. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt in March reversed an Obama-era effort to bar spraying chlorpyrifos on fruits and vegetables after peer-reviewed studies found even tiny levels of exposure could harm children's brains.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017