LIHUE >> Kauai health-care professionals have urged Gov. David Ige to ban a chemical from agricultural use in Hawaii.

Seventeen physicians and psychologists have come together to send the governor a request to ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos, The Garden Island reported Monday.

Dr. Lee Evslin, a Kauai pediatrician who has been practicing for more than 30 years, had said he signed on because Ige’s interest in the matter is the state’s “last hope.”

“The science clearly shows that chlorpyrifos may cause irreversible, adverse changes to the unborn child’s brain,” Evslin said. “The federal government is apparently not going to protect our keiki, and the state Legislature failed to pass any meaningful legislation concerning pesticides.

“Our last hope in this state is that the governor would take an interest and work to ban this dangerous and toxic substance.”

Ige has been urged to ban the chemical in the past. In March, members of Hawaii SEED, the group’s president Jeri Di Pietro, and a few others from Kauai and Maui met with Ige and expressed their concerns about the chemical.

“We stand behind precaution and urge a ban on the widespread, undisclosed spraying of insecticidal neurotoxins, like chlorpyrifos,” Di Pietro said. “It is extremely harmful to children’s development, worker safety and ecosystem habitats.”

The group hadn’t heard back from Ige’s office as of last week. They had sent the request for a ban April 17.

Ige did not respond to The Garden Island’s questions about the chemical.

“We ask that the governor take our strong concerns and recommendations into consideration,” the health-care professionals’ letter stated. “Beginning this year, chlorpyrifos should be prohibited for agricultural use in Hawaii.”