Breaking News: July 2000, FQPA Claims Dursban

The Food Quality Protection Act has claimed its most significant organophosphate victim: chlorpyrifos.

Dow AgroSciences has reached a "memorandum of agreement" with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to voluntarily withdraw chlorpyrifos from most uses in and around residences. The announcement came one day before EPA held a technical briefing stating that all urban pesticide uses of chlorpyrifos exceed the agency’s recommended exposure limits.

Dow AgroSciences will begin monitoring a plan to deplete the existing supply of chlorpyrifos and remove it from the distribution chain by the end of 2001.

Chlorpyrifos is the active ingredient in Dursban insecticide and is used in hundreds of products worldwide.

According to Mike Shaw, Dow AgroSciences’ global policy leader for chlorpyrifos, all outdoor residential uses, except for fire ant mound and mosquito control, will be eliminated, as well as all outdoor, non-residential uses, except for golf courses and roadside medians. Applications of chlorpyrifos to these areas cannot exceed 1 pound of active ingredient per acre.

All emulsifiable, concentrated formulations will be labeled as restricted-use pesticides.

From Dow AgroSciences’ perspective, the only good news to come out of the assessment was that re-entry intervals in nurseries and greenhouses were not substantially changed.

This is the first significant product ban impacting urban applicators since FQPA’s enactment in 1996, which charged EPA with reviewing hundreds of pesticides used in agricultural and urban environments. The law is designed to protect children, in particular, from the toxic effects of pesticides.

Essentially, the downfall of chlorpyrifos came as the result of a revised risk assessment implemented by EPA, which includes a 10-fold safety factor for children. EPA rejected all human data studies – a reversal of the agency’s long-standing policy – and added an uncertainty factor extrapolated to humans, Shaw said.

Dow AgroSciences officials maintain that the safety factor EPA introduced is not used anywhere else in the world and that the accuracy of the studies is questionable because dose levels are thousands of times higher than actual use.

"Under the preliminary risk assessment, potential risks associated with ready-to-use products, granular turf applications and turf treatments were manageable," Shaw said. "A revised risk assessment results in residual risk of cancer for all users of chlorpyrifos in and around the home."

In a Lawn & Landscape survey, 86 percent of contractors said they expect EPA to ban or severely limit other classes of pesticides as part of its ongoing pesticide re-evaluation.

EPA received more than 4,000 letters during the traditional public comment period. Of those, 3,700 (from university experts, user organizations and user groups) supported chlorpyrifos, while 300 opposed its use, most expressing their discontent in form letters.

Disappointed officials from Dow AgroSciences reached these conclusions regarding EPA’s risk assessment:

• EPA rejected the scientific community’s opinions and recommendations.

• EPA’s science policies are inconsistent with regulatory agencies worldwide.

• Many scientific policy choices EPA made have nothing to do with FQPA.

• EPA listens to user opinions and needs only when it’s in its own political interests.

Industry organizations have expressed that EPA’s move is not likely to enhance the health and safety of Americans.

"A pediatrician in charge of a poison control center in Seattle said that he sees more kids in his center from insect bite allergies because the insects weren’t controlled with pesticides than from pesticide poisoning," pointed out Tom Delaney, executive director, Professional Lawn Care Association of America (PLCAA), Atlanta, GA. "Pesticides are an easy thing to blame."

According to PLCAA research, Dursban’s cancellation will greatly affect lawn care companies in the East, where there have been recent infestation problems, and in the West, where they are battling crainflies. Still, not one PLCAA member contractor reported customer complaints or questions about the Dursban cancellation, Delaney reported.

Most contractors who answered the Lawn & Landscape survey said that Dursban was an inexpensive product with a broad spectrum of control, and that all contractors will have to spend additional money to find another product or group of products that offer the same level of control.

Other contractors blamed those who use pesticides irresponsibly for Dursban’s cancellation and said other products may also be discontinued if safer application measures aren’t taken. "Contractors whose priorities are revenue over responsible applications have caused another tool to go by the wayside, and that is unfortunate," lamented Gary Roux, president, Grounds Crew, Monroeville, PA. "This industry needs to wake up and work together to put the environment first."

Dow AgroSciences, which has invested more than $100 million in data collection on chlorpyrifos, reported that the chemical’s safety has not changed, "but we’re dealing with a new set of rules in the United States."