President Trump and his disastrous Environmental Protection Agency has, as one of its first actions, chosen not to ban chlorpyrifos, a chemical that is shown in peer-reviewed study after study to damage our children’s brains.

Instead they chose to protect the profits of a pesticide maker – Dow AgroSciences. Maybe if our kids had $1 million to contribute to the president’s inaugural committee, as Dow AgroSciences did, they could have gotten a life-saving reprieve.

Twenty percent of this pesticide usage is in California, some right here in Lake County.

In a report in 2015, the EPA, under a different administration where science counted, expressed concern for "workers who mix, load and apply chlorpyrifos to agricultural and other non-residential sites and workers re-entering treated areas after application."

In several studies, the chemical has been found it in the urine of kids who live near treated fields.

Once again, President Trump shows that his Make America Great Again strategy is designed for billionaires and corporations and “everyday people” (including our vulnerable kids) will be left behind.

Please write your state representatives and the governor and ask them to ban this dangerous pesticide in California. At least we can try to save ourselves.

Gillian Parrillo lives in north Lakeport, Calif.