Chlorpyrifos is an insecticide miticide and acaricide used since 1965. Chlorpyfos has been widely used in over 100 countries wich make it the largest organophosphorus insecticide ,approved on an EU-level since 2006 it is among the most used pesticides in europe.

• Eight member states have banned, or never authorised the use of chlorpyrifos products: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Sweden, and many states from all over the world.

High enough doses of chlorpyfos can cause nausea, dizziness and respiratory paralysis and have been linked with cases of autism, hormonal disruption, nerve damage, loss of working memory and many more serious deceases, a Columbia study found that children subject to this exposure had deficits in IQ and working memory.

Not only humans are affected by this pesticide. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has evaluated the ecological risks. In the agency's executive summary from that evaluation (Word doc), they provide a table of species that the chemical is expected to affect adversely. The agency has concluded that chlorpyrifos is likely to adversely affect 1,778 species, including plants, birds, fish, mammals and nontargeted insects.

Althrough its proved toxicity chlorpyfos remains in widespread use by farmers for more than 50 fruit, nut, cereal and vegetable crops.

The present EU approval of chlorpyrifos expires on 31 January 2020. This could indicate the story of chlorpyrifos is coming to an end yet that is not necessarily the case.