By Carey Gillam

The long and winding regulatory road for a pesticide known to be harmful to developing babies took another turn on Monday as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it was planning to only partially ban the insecticide chlorpyrifos in farming.

Under pressure from powerful agricultural industry interests and ordered by a federal court to consider the factors raised by the farming groups in a legal petition, the EPA said it would continue to allow chlorpyrifos to be used by farmers growing 11 crops, including apples, asparagus, citrus, peaches, strawberries, wheat, soybeans and others, despite evidence that the pesticide is associated with "neurodevelopmental effects" that can impair the normal development of children.

Other uses in farming would be banned, the agency said.