EPA Pushes Carbofuran off the Market

Pesticide that kills wild song birds one step closer to ban in U.S.

EPA announced Friday that it will not be granting an administrative hearing to FMC Corporation, the manufacturer of the pesticide carbofuran, over EPA's May 2009 final rule revoking food "tolerances" for carbofuran. See 74 FR 23046 (May 15, 2009). In an order signed on Friday, the Agency concluded that the regulatory standard for holding an evidentiary hearing was not met, and denied all objections to the revocation. (Objections had been submitted last June by the National Corn Growers Association, National Sunflower Association, National Potato Council, and FMC Corporation.) The decision means a ban on carbofuran on food crops will go into effect on December 31, 2009.

This decision has been years in the making. Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act ("FIFRA" to close friends), folks in the Office of Pesticide Programs of the EPA cyclically review pesticides that are already "registered," or on the market for certain approved uses. It is almost impossible, given the political realities in the Pesticide Division and the elasticity of standards, to de-register a pesticide. But it is easier for to revoke a pesticide's food tolerance, i.e. an accepted residue level in which that pesticide may linger on our food, set under the Federal Food Drug & Cosmetic Act ("FDCA"). According to Friday's order, EPA--which administers the part of the FDCA relevant to pesticides--reached the conclusion that "[e]xposure to the pesticide carbofuran resulting from existing legal uses is unsafe . . . in 2006 after an exhaustive multi-year review of the data on carbofuran as part of [the FIFRA re-registration process.]"

I'm not that up-to-date on the science surrounding how much carbofuran remains on food. But what is clear is that carbofuran is super dangerous for wild birds in agricultural regions. Because its a neurotoxin, and would therefore attack farmworkers' nervous systems if administered in liquid form (i.e. sprayed on), carbofuran is made into little pellets that are planted alongside corn and other seeds. When birds come along to scratch around for the tasty corn seeds, they often eat the carbofuran pellets, too, resulting in major die offs. (This is why Defenders of Wildlife is applauding the decision in its press release, "EPA Sticks to its Guns on Plan to Bar Use of Deadly Pesticide.")

After its 2006 decision, EPA allowed FMC to submit more data. But it finally issued a proposal to revoke the carbofuran tolerances in July 2008. See 73 FR 44864 (July 31, 2008). Seeing the writing on the wall, FMC then said, well what if we agree to let our registration of carbofuran be partially cancelled, so that there won't be that much of it in the average American's diet anymore? (Or, technically, according to Friday's order, FMC "requested the cancellation of the registration of carbofuran on several crops and the restriction of where, and the manner in which, carbofuran could be used in the United States on its remaining registered crop sites."). EPA was unswayed by this last-minute generosity, calling the new parameters "irrelevant," and finalized its rule on May 15, 2009.

Friday's decision takes us one step further to getting carbofuran off the market. FMC immediately announced its intention to appeal the decision in federal court, complaining that "EPA's unprecedented attempt to deny any review of its science deprives the registrant and the growers who use carbofuran the right to prove that the product is safe, and represents a bold abuse of power in contradiction of the agency's earlier commitments to transparency and good science."

Update: The National Corn Grower's Association has opposed the move, as detailed in an article that can be read here.