June 26, 2009
From the Nebraska Department of Agriculture:
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EPA has revoked all carbofuran tolerances — residue limits in food. Carbofuran is an N-methyl carbamate insecticide and nematicide that has been registered by FMC Corporation under the product name Furadan to control pests in soil and on leaves in a variety of field, fruit, and vegetable crops. No residential uses are registered.
The complete Federal Register notice is available at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/2009/May/Day-15/p11396.htm
EPA has concluded that dietary, worker, and ecological risks are unacceptable for all uses of carbofuran. All products containing carbofuran generally cause unreasonable adverse effects on humans and the environment and do not meet safety standards, and therefore are ineligible for reregistration.
Following a public comment period, EPA granted a request from the registrant, FMC Corporation, for voluntary cancellation of certain uses of and products containing flowable and granular carbofuran effective March 18, 2009. All federally registered uses of carbofuran have been canceled except four food crop uses (field corn, potatoes, pumpkins and sunflowers) and two non-food crop uses (pine seedlings and spinach grown for seed). Existing stocks of the canceled products may be used until they are depleted, until December 31, 2009, the effective date for revocation of the associated food tolerances.
Carbofuran tolerances for all commodities will be revoked effective December 31, 2009. This means that no food crops in the U.S. will be allowed to have residues of carbofuran after December 31, unless it can be shown that the crop was treated before that date. EPA is working with the Food and Drug Administration to ensure that food treated before the effective date of the tolerance revocations can continue to be sold and distributed.
EPA is encouraging growers to switch to safer pesticides or other environmentally preferable pest control strategies. The Agency has set the effective date in December because we believe this is the quickest time frame in which the decision can be practically implemented, and to ensure that growers have been provided with a reasonable amount of time to allow them to develop appropriate pest management strategies.
Robert Wright
Extension Entomologist
