"This pesticide has put thousands of workers at risk of serious illness every year," Erik Nicholson, of the United Farmworkers of America, said in a news release Monday.
Farmworker and environmental groups sued the EPA in federal court in Seattle in 2004, arguing that the agency was wrong to continue allowing a pesticide that could cause seizures, paralysis and death. That lawsuit was settled when the EPA agreed to reconsider the use of the AZM and another pesticide, phosmet.
The environmental law firm Earthjustice said AZM is derived from nerve agents used during World War II. It has been most commonly used in Washington, Oregon, California, Michigan, Georgia, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Source: Associated Press