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Cases / Pesticides and agrochemicals · United States · 2021–2025

Stockholm Convention agrees chlorpyrifos phase-out with 22 uses exempted

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

Parties to the Stockholm Convention agreed in May 2025 to phase out the insecticide chlorpyrifos, but its exemptions rose from 7 to 22 uses. The chemical's use on farmland affects the water and ecosystems around treated fields.

What?
Chlorpyrifos is being phased out under the Stockholm Convention, with exemptions, after producers such as Corteva announced they would stop making it. National Observer
Where?
United States (EPA regulation); Belgium and Denmark (EU exports); global (Stockholm Convention)
When?
Stockholm Convention decision May 2025; EPA update January 2025; Corteva announcement February 2020; EU exports second half of 2022 PAN International
Who?
Gained
  • UPL and FMC — Exported chlorpyrifos products from Belgium and Denmark, although the EU had banned the chemical
Lost
None on record
Harmed
  • Buyers in Algeria, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Costa Rica — Received chlorpyrifos products exported from the EU in the second half of 2022
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Regulators set bans and exemptions. The EU lowered its import residue limit for chlorpyrifos in food to the lowest measurable level while exports of banned products continued.
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Parties to the Stockholm Convention agreed in May 2025 to phase out chlorpyrifos, but exemptions rose from 7 uses proposed by experts to 22, according to PAN International.

PAN International said at least 44 countries already ban the insecticide.

EPA published an update on its next steps for chlorpyrifos in January 2025.

Corteva said in February 2020 that it would stop producing chlorpyrifos, according to National Observer.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: a US court vacated the 2021 chlorpyrifos ban in 2023, and EPA proposed in 2024 to keep uses on 11 products.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: India received a five-year production exemption under the Stockholm Convention.
    • None on record The sources reviewed do not name the court or the case in the US ban challenge.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    2. Corteva to stop producing chlorpyrifos
      National Observer · 2020-02-09

    Communities and civil society

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Institutions

    EPA
    The US Environmental Protection Agency.

    Science and environment

    PFOA (C8) and PFAS
    PFAS are a large family of human-made chemicals that persist in the environment and the body; PFOA, also called C8, is one of them and was used to make Teflon.
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