PETITION AGAINST EPA FILED IN CARBOFURAN DISPUTE
News Date December 01, 2009
FMC Corporation and a group of U.S. crop commodity associations have jointly filed a petition in a U.S. Federal Court concerning the Environmental Protection Agency’s refusal to hear objections on the recent ban of carbofuran, a pesticide widely used in corn, potatoes and soy. In May of 2009 EPA revoked all tolerances of carbofuran, effectively prohibiting the use of the pesticide. Since then, EPA warned growers that carbofuran should not be applied to any food crops after December 31, 2009. Use of carbofuran after this date could result in adulterated food products, which would be subject to enforcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In June of 2009, FMC filed several amendment proposals to its registration under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act in an effort to keep carbofuran on the market. EPA refused to review the proposals and rejected subsequent hearing requests from FMC on the grounds that they were “irrelevant, and thus immaterial” to the decision to revoke tolerances of the pesticide.
"EPA remains closed-minded about mitigation measures, even though FMC proposals have clearly demonstrated how such mitigation is possible and indeed allow product use to meet the EPA safety standard even under the Agency's worse case assumptions," said Dr. Michael Morelli, Director of Global Regulatory Affairs at FMC.
EPA has said that FMC would be able to continue to pursue proposed amendments to its carbofuran registration and to re-establish tolerances in light of the amendments. (By: Ethan Mathews, Policy Contact: Nathan Bowen)