Trump’s EPA Greenlighted a Pesticide That Harms Kids’ Brains. Hawaii Just Said, “Hell No.”

The state just enacted a ban on chloripyrifos, a neurotoxic chemical used in agriculture.

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In the early months of the Trump Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency reversed an Obama-era proposal to ban the widely used insecticide chlorpyrifos, which has been linked by ample research to inhibited brain development in children. 

On Wednesday, the state of Hawaii pushed back. Gov. David Ige signed Senate Bill 3095 bill into law, banning chlorpyrifos, which is produced by chemical giant DowDuPont, starting on January 1, 2023. Until then, anyone wanting to apply the chemical will have to obtain a temporary permit from the state’s agriculture department.

The bill also places new bans the spraying of “restricted use” pesticides within 100 feet of schools during school hours. Restricted use pesticides are those chemicals deemed by the EPA to be so toxic that can only be used by trained applicators on particular crops. Chlorpyrifos is on the list

The new law was pushed by a coalition of Hawaiian environmental groups. It marks the latest battle in their long conflict with the seed/agrichemical industry, which tests novel crops and pesticides on several of the state’s islands, most prominently Kauai. Back in 2013, the county of Kauai passed an ordinance requiring the industry to maintain buffer zones between between fields where pesticides are applied and neighboring properties, as well as regularly disclose what they’re spraying and where they’re spraying it. Syngenta and other seed companies sued to nix the law, arguing it preempted much looser state restrictions, and ultimately won. 

Leslee Matthews, Honolulu-based policy fellow with Pesticide Action Network, which helped organize support for the chlorpyrifos bill, said the push to ban the chemical will now turn to the mainland. “Hawaii’s efforts have set a precedent, and we hope this will pave the way for other states that are looking to enact similar legislation,” she said in a statement.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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