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US review of carbofuran phase-out
Nov. 30, 2007
The US EPA has scheduled a four-day meeting to review the science surrounding its planned phase-out of the N-methyl carbamate insecticide/nematicide, carbofuran. It plans to select 12-15 scientists to serve on its FIFRA [Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act] Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) on February 5th-8th 2008.
The Agency's planned four-year phase-out of carbofuran follows an interim re-registration eligibility decision (IRED), which found the active ingredient ineligible for re-registration. Since the IRED was issued in August 2006, FMC has submitted additional human and ecological toxicity data and benefits information, which the EPA has reviewed. None of these data changed the conclusions reached in the IRED, the Agency points out. It has therefore scheduled the SAP meeting as the first stage in the process of cancelling the carbofuran registration.
FMC welcomes the opportunity for the independent scientists on the SAP to "take a hard look" at the risk assessments carried out by the EPA, the company told Agrow. It has enlisted experts to investigate the effects of carbofuran on birds and humans and maintains that their findings show that carbofuran meets the Agency's safety standards. "We are confident that the SAP will agree that our science shows that carbofuran should remain registered, especially for corn, potatoes, sunflowers and melons, where the benefits of carbofuran use are considerable, including situations where there are no adequate substitutes."
The EPA has invited scientists to serve on the SAP on an ad hoc basis for the carbofuran meeting. It is seeking experts in several disciplines, including wildlife epidemiology and toxicology, probabilistic ecological risk assessment, human toxicology in relation to N-methyl carbamates and acetyl cholinesterase inhibition, and the extrapolation of animal toxicology data to human risk assessments.
Source: AgroNews
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