Pressure is mounting to phase out a decades-old class of insecticides linked to developmental delays and behavior problems in children, but rising use in the developing world could complicate activists’ efforts to ban them.
Use of organophosphates has dropped in the U.S. and select countries in Europe and East Asia during the past decade, according to figures from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Use remains steady—even rising—in the developing world. Overall imports of pesticides in the 50 least-developed countries jumped by 65 percent between 2006 and 2016, according to FAO data. As ...