News In Brief

Massachusetts court lets state impose ban on EDB

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court lifted a court order and allowed the state to apply an emergency ban on the sale of grain products contaminated by the pesticide EDB.

The high court said the state had authority to set its own strict standards for ethylene dibromide. It reversed a lower court ruling that had said less restrictive federal regulations should take precedence.

A public hearing will be held next month by the state Public Health Council to develop permanent state regulations.

In a three-page order, the court noted that the products ordered off store shelves because of the state regulations were not perishable and therefore could be returned to the shelves and sold later.