EPA chief met with Dow CEO before deciding on pesticide ban
Source: AP
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration's top environmental official met privately with the chief executive of Dow Chemical shortly before reversing his agency's push to ban a widely used pesticide after health studies showed it can harm children's brains, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt's schedule shows he met with Dow CEO Andrew Liveris for about a half hour on March 9 during a conference held at a Houston hotel. Twenty days later Pruitt announced his decision to deny a petition to ban Dow's chlorpyrifos pesticide from being sprayed on food, despite a review by his agency's scientists that concluded ingesting even minuscule amounts of the chemical can interfere with the brain development of fetuses and infants.
EPA released a copy of Pruitt's March meeting schedule earlier this month following several Freedom of Information Act requests.
Asked by the AP in April whether Pruitt had meet with Dow executives or lobbyists before his decision, EPA spokesman J.P. Freire replied: "We have had no meetings with Dow on this topic."
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I'm spreading native seeds, from what's still remaining of these species, all over the west to replenish their populations.
Hey farmer farmer
Put away the DDT
I don't care about spots on my apples
Leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
The American Academy of Pediatrics urged Pruitt on Tuesday to take chlorpyrifos off the market. The group representing more than 66,000 pediatricians and pediatric surgeons said it is “deeply alarmed” by Pruitt’s decision to allow the pesticide’s continued use.
“There is a wealth of science demonstrating the detrimental effects of chlorpyrifos exposure to developing fetuses, infants, children, and pregnant women,” the academy said in a letter to Pruitt. “The risk to infant and children’s health and development is unambiguous.” 
