What's happening
This bill phases in a ban on the use of chlorpyrifos in New York, leading to a total prohibition by December 2021.
Why it matters
A phased approach gives farmers and businesses time to adapt. The bill doesn’t enact an immediate ban: first it prohibits aerial application, then restricts use to only apple tree trunks, and finally bans all uses. This staged timeline allows for finding alternatives and minimizing economic disruption.
Protects public health and the environment from a controversial pesticide. Chlorpyrifos has been linked to neurological harm, especially in children, as well as risks to wildlife and water quality. The ban aims to reduce these risks statewide.
New York could influence national policy and market trends. As one of the largest agricultural states, New York’s actions may encourage other states or even federal agencies to reconsider chlorpyrifos use, and could drive demand for safer pest control options.
Potential impacts on apple growers and other agricultural sectors. The exception for apple tree trunks in 2021 suggests chlorpyrifos is important in that crop, so the bill may prompt a search for viable substitutes or changes in pest management practices, affecting crop yields and farming costs.
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Who cares
Aerial pesticide applicators
The bill would prohibit aerial application of chlorpyrifos beginning January 1, 2020.
Farmers using chlorpyrifos on crops other than apple tree trunks
The bill would prohibit those applications beginning January 1, 2021.
Apple growers
Application to apple tree trunks would remain permitted until December 1, 2021, when the bill would prohibit all chlorpyrifos use.
Headline styles
Ban Chlorpyrifos Use
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
History
- Vetoed memo.193
- Delivered to governor
- Returned to senate
- Passed assembly
- Ordered to third reading cal.186
- Substituted for A2477B
- Referred to codes
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 44–18
- Ordered to third reading cal.490
- Referred to rules
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Ban Chlorpyrifos Pesticide
Assembly Floor Calendar · Sponsor Steven Englebright
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5343
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 26, 2019
Introduced by Sen. KAMINSKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to prohibiting the use of chlorpyrifos; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 33-1301 of the environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new subdivision 12 to read as follows:
12. Effective January first, two thousand twenty, for any person to use chlorpyrifos by aerial application.
§ 2. Section 33-1301 of the environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new subdivision 12 to read as follows:
12. Effective January first, two thousand twenty-one, for any person to apply chlorpyrifos other than to apple tree trunks.
§ 3. Section 33-1301 of the environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new subdivision 12 to read as follows:
12. For any person to use chlorpyrifos.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that section one of this act shall expire and be deemed repealed January 1, 2021 when upon such date the provisions of section two of this act shall take effect; provided further, however, that section two of this act shall expire and be deemed repealed December 1, 2021 when upon such date the provisions of section three of this act shall take effect.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07670-04-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to prohibiting the use of chlorpyrifos; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof
Purpose or general idea of bill
The purpose of this bill is to prohibit the use of a specific pesticide with significant known adverse human health impacts, especially for children.
Summary of provisions
This bill would amend § 33-1301 of the Environmental Conservation Law to prohibit the use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos. Specifically, the bill amends Section 33-1301 of the Environmental Conservation Law and makes it "unlawful for any person to use chlorpyrifos." However, the bill initially bans aerial application of chlorpyrifos, beginning January 1, 2020. Beginning January 1, 2021, all applications of chlorpyrifos, other than applied to apple tree trunks, are banned. As of December 1, 2021, all uses of chlorpyrifos are banned.
Read the full memo (617 words)
Justification
Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate pesticide, first introduced for sale in 1965, which works to block the enzyme cholinesterase and impairs the central nervous system, an impact also shared with the nerve gas Sarin. The use of chlorpyrifos, which has increased as the use of DDT waned, has been consistently controversial. The increasing usage was accompa- nied by an increased number of accidental poisonings, peaking in 1996 with 7,000 reports to Poison Control Centers. Despite the poisoning risk, and an increasing number of scientific studies suggesting adverse health impacts, Dow Chemical continued to insist that the pesticide was completely safe. In 1993, the New York Attorney General charged Dow with false advertising, a case subsequently settled with Dow's payment of a $2 million fine in 2003. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prohibited indoor use of chlorpyrifos in 2001.
Chlorpyrifos and other organophosphate pesticides have been the subject of extensive scientific study. Links have been made between exposure and neuropsychological effects including speech difficulties, memory, atten- tion and coordination (see for example "Chronic Exposure to Organophosp- hate (OP) Pesticides and Neuropsychological Functioning in Farm Workers: a Review" published January 2016 in the International Journal of Occupa- tional and Environmental Health). Adverse impacts on children have also been identified in numerous scientific studies. In his 2012 study "A
Strategy for Comparing the Contributions of Environmental Chemicals and Other Risk Factors to Neurodevelopment of Children," David C. Bellinger estimated that the use of organophosphate pesticides like chlorpyrifos had led to a collective 17 million loss in IQ points among American children. In his statement regarding the 2003 settlement on the Dow Chemical false advertising settlement, Dr. Philip Landrigan, Chair of the Department of Community and Preventative Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center said: "Excellent studies conducted by independent scien- tists have clearly shown that chlorpyrifos, the active ingredient in Dursban, is toxic to the human brain and nervous system and is especial- ly dangerous to the developing brain of infants." In addition, a 2014 Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) study performed by the University of California Davis Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopment Disorders (MIND) found that the risk of having a child with autism almost tripled for women exposed to chlorpyrifos in their second trimester of pregnancy.
The EPA recognized the findings of the scientific studies and in Novem- ber 2016 issued a revised human health risk assessment, laying the groundwork for a chlorpyrifos ban. This bill would enact a chlorpyrifos ban based on the compelling scientific evidence of the harmful health impacts of chlorpyrifos, especially on children.
Prior legislative history
2018 A10274 passed assembly
Fiscal implications for state and local governments
None.
Effective date
January 1, 2020 for aerial applications. January 1, 2021 for all uses except apple trees. December 1, 2021 for all uses.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.