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Learn about 17 of the most dangerous, widely used organophosphate pesticides in the U.S.
Widely used in U.S. agriculture. Registered as a U.S. pesticide in 1965. Reregistered in 2006. Banned for indoor residential use since 2000. Proposed revocation of food tolerances in 2015. The EPA had refused multiple times to ban chlorpyrifos. Through a series of lawsuits, Earthjustice pushed the EPA to ban chlorpyrifos. On Aug. 18, 2021, EPA finally issued a final rule banning all food uses of chlorpyrifos. Food uses will be revoked six months from the final rule’s publication in the Federal Register. Read an explainer and in-depth report on chlorpyrifos.
Data is not available for Alaska, D.C., Hawaiʻ i, and U.S. Territories. Data represents the most recent year available from USGS. Details.
Caliornia, Hawaii, New York, and Oregon have moved to ban chlorpyrifos. The U.S. EPA issued a final rule on Aug. 18, 2021, to ban all food uses of chlorpyrifos.
See detailed maps of chlorpyrifos usage by state and county.
Even at low levels of exposure, chlorpyrifos can lead to serious negative health effects.
People are exposed to chlorpyrifos through food and drinking water, even if they don’t live near areas where pesticides are sprayed. Details.
Food and/or Drinking Water
Occupational Field Workers People performing post-application activities in previously treated fields, but do not directly apply pesticides themselves. Details.
Occupational Handlers People involved in pesticide application process. Details.
Residential Although banned from nearly all residential uses, residential exposure to chlorpyrifos can happen through ant and roach baits. People can also come in contact following applications on turf golf courses or aerial mosquitocide.
Residential Bystander People who live near areas where pesticides are applied. Chlorpyrifos exposure route only of risk in 2016 Risk Assessment. Details.
Wide Area Public Pest Control
Where residue levels of chlorpyrifos exceeded allowable limits or were not legally allowed to have residues. Details.
Where EPA allows chlorpyrifos to be used.
Agricultural Crops: alfalfa, corn, cotton, fruit and vegetables, orchards and grapes, soybeans, wheat, other crops
Most recent agricultural crop usage data as provided by the U.S. Geographical Survey’s Pesticide National Synthesis Project. Does not reflect universal usage of chlorpyrifos. (How do EPest-low and EPest-high differ?)
The U.S. EPA sets maximum residue limits — known as “tolerances” — on the amount of chlorpyrifos that may remain in and on foods. The tolerance is the residue level that triggers enforcement actions.
Tolerances have been set for chlorpyrifos for: Agricultural Commodities and Milk Eggs Meat and/or Poultry. Maximum residue limits have been set for chlorpyrifos by the U.S. EPA for the following commodities:
Human Health Risk Assessments are conducted by the U.S. EPA to estimate the nature and probability of harmful health effects in people who may be exposed to pesticide. They are used to make informed decisions about approving new pesticides and new uses of registered pesticides, and during our regular review of existing pesticides. Read the assessments for chlorpyrifos:
Special Note: Information pertaining to the organophosphate pesticide chlorpyrifos was obtained in part from EPA’s 2016 human health risk assessment, which is the most health protective recent human health risk assessment for chlorpyrifos.
Although EPA did also release a final human health risk assessment in 2014 and a subsequent updated version in 2020 that both found serious risks of concern for many uses of chlorpyrifos, including by workers, both versions relied on methodologies that underestimated risk to the developing fetus and therefore failed to protect children from neurodevelopmental harm at low levels of exposure.
In other words, the risks of concern arising from chlorpyrifos use are likely far greater and more pervasive than those identified in the 2014 and 2020 risk assessments. Thus, to more accurately reflect real-world risks and adhere to the most health protective risk determinations, this database only reflects information from the 2016 version.
Learn about 17 of the most dangerous, widely used organophosphate pesticides in the U.S.
By law, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must ensure pesticide use complies with health and environmental standards. It is currently conducting new registration reviews for some two-dozen organophosphates that must be done by October 2022. As the deadline looms, Earthjustice reviewed and extracted data from 17 organophosphate human health risk assessments, as well as agricultural pesticide usage data from the United States Geological Survey. The 17 organophosphate pesticides are acephate, bensulide, chlorethoxyfos, chlorpyrifos, chlorpyrifos-methyl, coumaphos, diazinon, dichlorvos, dicrotophos, dimethoate, ethoprophos, malathion, naled, phorate, phosmet, terbufos, and tribufos. The goal was to document the location and amount of organophosphate pesticide usage in the United States, in addition to the dangerous health effects associated with exposure. These 17 organophosphates were selected due to their known harmful health effects and/or widespread use. Download the data
The United States Geological Survey calculated pesticide use estimates by applying pesticide-by-crop use rates to the harvested acreage for each crop in each Crop Reporting District (“CRD”).
USGS EPest-low and EPest-high estimates indicate a range of crop-specific pesticide use based on surveyed data obtained by each state, except for the state of California.
The state tabular data in this database and the maps on main database page display EPest-low estimates. The detailed database maps display views of both EPest-low and EPest-high estimates.
Note that all pesticide use estimates indicated in the database maps reflect only agricultural crop usage in 2017 (the most recent year available from USGS at publication time of this database) and do not reflect universal usage.
Also note that the concentrations indicated in the detailed database maps reflect the USGS estimates allocated to total harvested acreage for all crops reported in the county and total harvested acreage for all crops reported in the state. For this reason, unless all harvested crops reported in the county or reported in the state were applied with organophosphate pesticides, the concentrations found on the maps will be dilute in comparison to the true concentration.
Methods for how the concentrations were calculated are described with the detailed database maps.
Pesticide use data pertaining to non-contiguous states and U.S. territories, including Hawaiʻ i, Alaska, and Puerto Rico, were not made available by the USGS and were thus not reflected in this database. Geographic usage data was available only for 14 of the 17 organophosphate pesticides in this database; data was not available for chlorpyrifos-methyl, coumaphos, and dichlorvos.
High residue foods are food products that contain high levels of pesticide residues. In this database, high residue foods were identified from food product samples tested by the USDA Pesticide Data Program (“PDP”) in 2018 and 2019. Food products were considered high residue if PDP-measured pesticide levels presumptively violated U.S. pesticide tolerance levels, or the maximum amount of pesticide residue allowed on food and determined to be safe by the EPA. This category will remain blank if no high residue foods were specifically identified from the USDA's PDP database.
Note: the PDP tests a relatively small sample of food products and does not test for all organophosphate pesticides. Thus, no detection does not necessarily mean that there are no residues of concern for a particular organophosphate pesticide. Moreover, current U.S. pesticide tolerance levels are not protective against neurodevelopmental harm in children, so detections at or below tolerance levels do not indicate no harm.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers occupational field workers, also sometimes referred to as "post-application" workers, as individuals who perform post-application activities in previously treated fields but do not directly apply pesticides themselves. EPA typically evaluates exposures to occupational field workers from dermal absorption of pesticide residues and/or inhalation of volatilized pesticides or resuspended dusts/particulates that occur in fields where pesticides were used.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers occupational handlers as individuals who are involved in the pesticide application process. Occupational handlers can experience varying exposures to pesticides due to the distinct job functions or tasks related to pesticide application, which include mixing pesticide formulations, loading pesticide application apparatuses, and applying liquid or granular pesticides to fields. EPA typically evaluates exposures to occupational handlers from dermal absorption of pesticide residues and/or inhalation of volatilized pesticides generated during the application process.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assessed risks to residential bystanders, or people who live near areas where pesticides are applied. In the organophosphate pesticide risk assessments summarized in this database, EPA evaluated exposure to residential bystanders either from inhalation of volatilized pesticides in post-application or ambient air, or from ingestion or dermal absorption of pesticide residues resulting from spray drift. EPA defines spray drift as “the movement of pesticide dust or droplets through the air at the time of application or soon after, to any site other than the area intended.”
In the organophosphate pesticide risk assessments summarized in this database, EPA assumed that direct inhalation of pesticides from spray drift would not occur by residential bystanders due to existing product label language that is intended to prevent direct exposures. As such, EPA did not consider inhalation of pesticides from spray drift as an exposure route of concern for residential bystanders.
Regulatory history: EPA Risk Evaluations available on Regulations.gov. State usage: USGS. Crops usage: USGS. Percentage of crops treated: EPA Risk Evaluations available on Regulations.gov. Human health effects: EPA Risk Evaluations available on Regulations.gov. High risk exposure routes: EPA Risk Evaluations available on Regulations.gov. Registered uses: EPA Risk Evaluations available on Regulations.gov. Barplot usage charts: USGS. U.S. Tolerances and Commodities: Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR Part 180).
From the Noun Project. Created by Léa Lortal (cells); priyanka (hypothalamus); popcornarts (brain); Sergey Demushkin (fetus); Alice Design (fork & spoon); Luis Prado (occupational field worker); yulianingsih, ID (occupational handler); Matt Brooks (bystander); Musmellow (residential); Teewara soontorn (spray drift); Yu luck (pest control); Evan MacDonald (cilantro); Julia Soderberg (basil); Kick (strawberry); susanna pozzi (spinach); Brand Mania (snap peas); Izwar Muis (raisins, mustard greens); Vectors Market (mango); Michał Czekała (bell pepper); Sou (agricultural crops).
Since our founding in 1971, Earthjustice has been at the forefront of safeguarding the fundamentals of human health — the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink. With more than 170 attorneys, Earthjustice's litigation holds polluters and the government accountable for following our nation's bedrock environmental laws, which exist to ensure widespread protections from pollution and toxic chemicals and to promote thriving communities. Alongside our clients and partners, Earthjustice's attorneys have fought — and succeeded — in banning some of the most dangerous chemicals from our food, homes, and workplaces. Learn more
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