Pesticides: Spotlight on Chlorpyrifos, an Old School Organophosphate Whose Time Has Come - And Gone

Today Pesticide Action Network's leading a twitter storm in a campaign to get this dangerous pesticide out of California farmlands. It's a widely used organophosphate, a group of chemicals that have been proven to cause harmful effects in numerous scientific studies - and it's being targeted by PAN in part because children are the most at risk.

More than 1.1 million pounds of chloropyrifos were used in California agriculture on 1 million acres in 2012, according to state figures. What's worse, a lot of that was applied near schools.

The wine industry was responsible for 52,341 pounds on 28,359 acres.

The worst offenders? (These are for wine grapes only.)

• Kern County
24,997 pounds on 13,293 acres

• Monterey County
5,532 pounds on 3,355 acres

• Madera County
2,514 pounds on 1,338 acres

• Fresno County
1,653 pounds on 920 acres

There are many other (nonorganic) products on the market that are far less toxic for growers to use.

Monterey teachers groups have asked the California Dept. of Regulation to take action.

The state of California has the power to stop the use of this pesticide, which has already been banned from home use (because so many studies have documented its harmful effects). Encourage them to stop dragging their feet - and protect kids from harm.