# Evaluation of California's 2020 chlorpyrifos cancellation on health and exposure in agricultural communities

> **NIH NIH R21** · COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $190,000

## Abstract

Abstract
Organophosphate pesticides have been associated with several negative health outcomes, including cancer,
neurodegenerative disease, impaired neurocognitive development, and adverse respiratory health effects.
Specifically, the insecticide chlorpyrifos, which was banned from indoor use in the United States in 2000, has
been under federal consideration to be discontinued from use in agriculture. In 2020, the State of California took
the unprecedented action of banning chlorpyrifos in all agricultural applications by the end of the calendar year.
This policy results in a unique natural experiment to determine changes in exposure and associated health
effects to chlorpyrifos in the state. As the Central Valley of California is one of the most fertile agricultural regions
in the world, this shift in pesticide use may have short-term and long-term effects on Valley residents who have
household exposure based on community proximity to agricultural operations. Though California has an
extensive publicly available agricultural pesticide application database (California Pesticide Use Registry),
current data availability is generally delayed by two years. As such, evaluation of exposure changes in Valley
communities and residents may not be documented for several years. Following, collection of biomarkers of
exposure among Valley residents will provide the most rapid evidence of changes in exposure and concomitant
health outcomes. Based on our previous work in the Central Valley, we have recruited a cohort of residents who
live in four communities with high exposure to organophosphate pesticides including chlorpyrifos. In partnership
with a long-standing environmental justice community organization in the region, we will leverage this existing
cohort of 70 adult residents to determine exposure and associated short-term health effects prior to
implementation of the ban and post-ban. We will recruit an additional 90 adult residents across the original four
high exposure communities, two additional high exposure communities and one control community to determine
change in exposure associated with the ban. We will evaluate pesticides in household dust and in urine, to
determine changes in chlorpyrifos levels and potential changes in other pesticides that may serve as chemical
replacements for chlorpyrifos (Aim 1). In addition, we will measure biomarkers of inflammation to determine if
there are short term health effects that can be evaluated in the year after the California ban (Aim 2). Our proposed
inflammatory markers underlie many disease states associated with pesticide exposure and allows us to develop
a cohort to ascertain long-term health effects of the chlorpyrifos ban. This time-sensitive mechanism allows us a
novel opportunity to add to the epidemiological literature on the health effects of chlorpyrifos, and evaluation of
state-level policies to serve as a mechanism for potential improvements in environmental health.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10260580
- **Project number:** 5R21ES032624-02
- **Recipient organization:** COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Sheryl Magzamen
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $190,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-10 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10260580

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10260580, Evaluation of California's 2020 chlorpyrifos cancellation on health and exposure in agricultural communities (5R21ES032624-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10260580. Licensed CC0.

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