Thread by @EricLiptonNYT

The NYT has written a great deal abt Chlorpyrifos since 2017, after Pruitt vetoed staff & decided not to ban it, despite evidence it's hurting farm workers/children. Abt 6 million lbs sprayed each yr on soybean/corn/oranges/almonds/
apples/asparagus/grape/broccoli/etc. Eat those?

Here are some of those stories, if you missed them. First, Pruitt rejects his own staff recommendations and decides not to ban the pesticide.
nytimes.com/2017/03/29/us/…

Then @RoniNYTimes and I got the EPA emails that showed how Pruitt in early 2017 had promised the farmers that use the pesticide he was there ready to help them. Emails also showed how EPA staff advice was rejected.
nytimes.com/2017/08/18/us/…

Then we stepped back and did a deep dive in Oct. 2017 on how there had been a radical shift at the EPA since Trump in terms of how it is evaluating and regulating toxic chemicals and pesticides. Chlorpyrifos was part of the shift. nytimes.com/2017/10/21/us/…

Then @dannyhakim and I examined how EPA is second guessing the use of epidemiology--the science of using observation to evaluate risk. WHY? The pesticide industry fears use of this basic science by EPA to make rules might mean its products are banned. nytimes.com/2018/08/24/bus…

Finally, this past week, @JohnBranchNYT and I looked at WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN? It's not esoteric. Chlorpyrifos is still in use. Farm workers are still getting sick. Children still being exposed. It is not all tweets in Trump era. nytimes.com/interactive/20…

One of the most fascinating things to me as we did this reporting is how EPA critics who pushed Pruitt to reject advice his own scientists R using the same tactics--and even the same slogans "SECRET SCIENCE" "JUNK SCIENCE"--as tobacco industry did. This from 1990s & court files.