UPDATE: 1st Chlorpyrifos Lawsuit Filed for Child With Autism In September 2020, the first chlorpyrifos lawsuit was filed in California on behalf of Rafael C., a child who was born in 2003 with severe autism and other neurological disorders. He was exposed to chlorpyrifos in the womb when his mother packed produce during pregnancy. His father sprayed Lorsban and Dursban.
Research has found that a widely used chemical called chlorpyrifos, found in popular pesticides like Dursban and Lorsban, may cause brain damage and other birth defects in children exposed to the chemical in utero. According to a growing body of evidence, prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos may cause small but measurable difference in the brain function of exposed children, possibly resulting in serious, irreversible problems like lower IQ, brain damage, neurological deficits and impaired cognitive abilities. After years of heated debates about a potential ban on chlorpyrifos, use of the pesticide in the agriculture industry was finally banned in late 2018, but children exposed to the neurotoxic pesticide may still be at risk for devastating neurological birth defects.
Chlorpyrifos is one of the most effective and widely used pesticides in the United States, but several studies published in recent years have shown that exposure to the chemical can adversely affect humans, particularly children, who may suffer impaired cognitive function and lowered IQs due to the adverse effect of chlorpyrifos on the developing brain. In 2015, after concluding that prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos posed a serious risk of impaired fetal brain and nervous-system development, scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended a ban on the chemical. Dow AgroSciences, the company that sells chlorpyrifos, insisted that a ban was unjustified, and in 2017, the EPA overruled its own scientists and declined to ban the use of chlorpyrifos in the U.S., citing scientific uncertainty about the risks of the pesticide.
The same year the EPA reversed its decision on chlorpyrifos, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment added chlorpyrifos to its Prop 65 list of substances known to cause cancer, reproductive harm and birth defects, and in June 2018, Hawaii became the first U.S. state to ban the use of chlorpyrifos outright. Just two months later, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals finally issued a nationwide ban on chlorpyrifos, which was scheduled to take effect in October 2018. Unfortunately, children exposed to chlorpyrifos before the ban may still be at risk for devastating neurological problems and birth defects, and attorneys across the country are now investigating legal claims on behalf of affected families.
If your child has suffered brain damage or another serious side effect and you believe chlorpyrifos exposure to be the cause, contact an experienced chlorpyrifos injury lawyer today to discuss your legal options.
• Brain damage
• Lowered IQ
• Impaired cognitive abilities
• ADHD
• Behavioral disorders
• Developmental delays
• Autism spectrum disorder
• Birth defects
• Neurological problems
• Impaired fetal brain development
• Impaired fetal nervous system development
“After years of heated debates about a potential ban on chlorpyrifos, use of the pesticide in the agriculture industry was finally banned in late 2018, but children exposed to the neurotoxic pesticide may still be at risk for devastating neurological birth defects.”
Chlorpyrifos is a broad-spectrum, chlorinated organophosphate (OP) insecticide marketed under the brand names Dursban and Lorsban and widely used on agricultural food and feed crops, to control pests like mosquitos and fire ants. Chlorpyrifos kills insects on contact by attacking the nervous system and inhibiting the breakdown of a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine (Ach). The chemical was first registered in the United States in 1965, and while in-home use of chlorpyrifos was restricted in the United States in 2000, the pesticide was still widely used in the agriculture industry and by homeowners and pest control companies for outdoor insect treatments. Chlorpyrifos belongs to a class of chemicals developed before World War II as a nerve gas that could interfere with neurotransmissions in the brain, and recent research has shown that chlorpyrifos may pose a serious risk of irreversible brain damage and other birth defects among children exposed to the pesticide in utero.
A chlorpyrifos lawsuit can help affected families recover monetary damages for:
• Medical bills
• Future medical care
• Loss of future earning potential
• Lost wages due to providing care for the child
• Extraordinary care
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of companionship
Despites claims by Dow AgroSciences that chlorpyrifos is safe and effective for use in protecting food crops from insect damage, years of research suggests that the chemical is a potential “neurotoxin,” meaning it may cause a loss of intelligence, as well as devastating birth defects, neurological deficits and brain damage with human exposure. According to recent reports, chlorpyrifos has the potential to cause “serious, irreversible” damage to a developing fetus, even at low concentrations that may pose little to no danger to the mother, which may result in “severely and permanently disabled and mentally damaged children.”
The potential link between chlorpyrifos and birth defects in babies exposed to the pesticide during pregnancy has been studied for decades. In 1996, a study published in the Archives of Environmental Health noted “Extensive and unusual patterns of birth defects” in children exposed to chlorpyrifos in utero, including “defects of the brain, eyes, ears, palate, teeth, heart, feet, nipples, and genitalia.” The researchers involved in this study concluded that the “pattern of defects […] may represent a heretofore unrecognized syndrome that should be considered when Dursban-exposed women have children with birth defects.”
In 2006, a study published in the journal Pediatrics found a link between prenatal chlorpyrifos exposure and neurological and behavioral development problems, like “developmental delays and disorders, attention problems, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder at three years of age.” In 2014, an article highlighting “The Toxins that Threaten Our Brains” named chlorpyrifos among the 12 chemicals found in the environment and in everyday items like clothing and furniture that experts believe may be causing “not just lower IQs but ADHD and autism spectrum disorder” due to its potential effects on fetal brain development.
