NRDC v. EPA (Tetrachlorvinphos)

In 2009, NRDC experts published a report about dangerous pesticides in household pet products and petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban all pet uses of tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP), a neurotoxin found in pet flea treatments, such as flea collars. TCVP is part of a family of pesticides called organophosphates (OPs), which are known to be toxic to the nervous system. Even small amounts of exposure can interfere with a child’s brain development and lead to learning disabilities.

The EPA had already restricted virtually all other indoor uses of OPs due to concerns that it can harm children’s nervous systems, yet the agency continued to allow the use of TCVP in pet flea products. When children play with their pets, there is a risk that the chemical can be absorbed through the skin or ingested when they put their hands in their mouths.

Following years of inaction by the EPA, NRDC sued the agency in 2014 and again in 2015. While the EPA finally acknowledged the danger TCVP poses to children, the agency failed to remove the dangerous pet products from the market.

When NRDC took EPA back to court in 2019 to demand that the agency act, the court sided with NRDC. In April 2020, it wrote, “Repeatedly, the EPA has kicked the can down the road and betrayed its prior assurances of timely action, even as it has acknowledged that the pesticide poses widespread, serious risks to the neurodevelopmental health of children.” The agency was ordered to take final action on NRDC’s petition to ban TCVP. Unfortunately, EPA denied the petition—leaving a dangerous pesticide on the market.

But even after more than a decade of advocacy, we will not stop until these toxic chemicals are removed from our homes, and children are protected. Once more, on September 18, 2020, we sued the agency for violating the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). And once more, the court sided with NRDC. On April 20, 2022, the court ruled that the EPA must revise its misleading assessment of the impacts of TCVP—and publish this new assessment in 120 days.