U.S. EPA denies petition to ban pesticide chlorpyrifos

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Wednesday it had denied a petition by environmental groups that sought to ban the agricultural pesticide chlorpyrifos. In October 2015, the Obama administration proposed to revoke all food residue tolerances for chlorpyrifos, an active ingredient in insecticides. The proposal was issued in response to a petition from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Pesticide Action Network North America, the EPA said in a statement. "By reversing the previous administration’s steps to ban one of the most widely used pesticides in the world, we are returning to using sound science in decision-making – rather than predetermined results," EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in the statement. (Reporting by Eric Beech)