Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 6/15/18

After grassroots groups in Hawaii spent six years telling lawmakers about the dangers of chlorpyrifos, the state's governor, David Ige, signed a law on Wednesday banning all uses of the product. "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," said Leslee Matthews, Honolulu-based policy fellow with Pesticide Action Network.

Why it happened in Hawaii: Paul Achitoff, managing attorney for the mid-Pacific office of Earth Justice who has worked on other chlorpyrifos cases said that Hawaii has faced an unusual number of problems there in part because of its multiple growing seasons.

Farmland is also located much closer to residential areas -- and that has meant more people there have felt the effects of spraying. Achitoff pointed to a settlement the EPA reached earlier this year with Syngenta Seeds over violations of federal pesticide regulations after 19 workers were sickened by chlorpyrifos. "They dump a lot of pesticides on these crops," said Achitoff. "In Hawaii, these crops are cheek by jowl with other communities."

Some chlorpyrifos history: The Obama administration had been actively working on a ban on chlorpyrifos. But that changed in March 2017, shortly after President Donald Trump took office. Then, EPA officials denied a petition from environmentalists calling for a ban on the pesticide chlorpyrifos

Environmentalists thought they had regained some ground in January when the National Marine Fisheries Services issued a biological opinion concluding that three widely used agricultural pesticides were harming dozens of species — as well as the marine life up the food chain.

Dismay from chlorpyrifos makers: "A total ban of any product that ignores this scientific, risk-based regulation is informed not by science, but by politics and has the potential to lead to confusion in the marketplace, leaving farmers and other pesticide users without the tools they need to protect agriculture, landscapes, structures and public health," Jay Vroom, president and CEO of CropLife America, said in a statement.