Abstract
Chlorpyrifos, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (ACI), is one of the most widely used insecticides in the world, and is generally recognized to be a moderate human neurotoxin. This paper reports a distributional environmental justice (dEJ) analysis of chlorpyrifos use in California’s Central Valley, examining the way distributions of environmental risks are associated with race, ethnicity, class, gender, and other systems of structural oppression. Spatial data on chlorpyrifos use were retrieved from California’s Department of Pesticide Registration public pesticide use records for 2011–2015. These data were combined with demographic data for the Central Valley from the American Community Survey (ACS). Spatial regression models were used to estimate effects of demographic covariates on local chlorpyrifos use. A novel bootstrap method was used to account for measurement error in the ACS estimates. This study finds consistent evidence that Hispanic population proportion is associated with increased local chlorpyrifos use. A 10-point increase in Hispanic proportion is associated with an estimated 1.05–1.4-fold increase in local chlorpyrifos use across Census tract models. By contrast, effects of agricultural employment and poverty on local chlorpyrifos use are ambiguous and inconsistent between Census tracts and Census-designated places.
Highlights
Chlorpyrifos, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (ACI), is one of the most widely used insecticides in the world
This study finds consistent evidence that Hispanic population proportion is associated with increased local chlorpyrifos use
This paper reports an distributional environmental justice analysis of chlorpyrifos use in California’s Central Valley
Summary
Chlorpyrifos, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (ACI), is one of the most widely used insecticides in the world. In California in 2016, it was the 29th most heavily used pesticide active ingredient, with over. 900,000 pounds applied over 640,000 acres [1]. Like several other organophosphate (OP) pesticides, it is generally recognized to be a moderate neurotoxin Bellinger [7] estimates an expected loss of 4.25 IQ points in children for each order-of-magnitude increase in maternal urinary concentration of dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites from OP pesticides. Chlorpyrifos was banned from residential use in the US in 2001. Because of this evidence of harm and continued widespread use, chlorpyrifos is a significant topic of regulatory controversy. In 2007 the environmental organizations Pesticide Action Network
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More From: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
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