Insecticide

Group sues EPA to force insecticide ban

An environmental group has sued to force the Environmental Protection Agency to ban an insecticide widely used on fruit and vegetable crops in the Central Valley.

A spokesman for the nonprofit group Earthjustice says it filed suit Monday on behalf of farmworker organizations alleging that the chemical diazinon poses health risks to field hands.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco is one of a series the group has filed in an effort to force the EPA to remove what it considers "the worst poisons on the market."

In 1998 the EPA banned diazinon on golf courses because it is toxic to birds. Federal regulators also banned the use of diazinon by homeowners in 2004. The chemical remains legal for agriculture.

(Published by KTVU - july 29, 2008)