US EPA issues final cancellation order and updates to existing stocks provisions for several chlorpyrifos products

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing a final cancellation order for Corteva’s chlorpyrifos product ″Dursban 50W in Water Soluble Packets″ and three Gharda chlorpyrifos products, and an amendment to the existing stocks provisions for two Liberty and three Winfield chlorpyrifos end-use products. The Agency has also updated the frequently asked questions about chlorpyrifos on its website.

Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate insecticide that has been used for many food crops, including growing soybeans, fruit and nut trees, broccoli, cauliflower, and other row crops, as well as non-food uses. In a final rule issued in August 2021, EPA revoked all tolerances for chlorpyrifos, which establish an amount of chlorpyrifos that is allowed on food. This action stopped the use of chlorpyrifos on all food and animal feed. EPA took this action in response to an April 2021 order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for the Agency to issue—within 60 days—a final rule addressing the use of chlorpyrifos in food or feed crops, without taking public comment or engaging in ″further fact-finding.″ 

On December 28, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated EPA’s August 2021 rule revoking all tolerances and reinstated the chlorpyrifos tolerances. On February 5, 2024, EPA issued a Federal Register notice to amend the Code of Federal Regulations to reflect the court's reinstatement of those tolerances. At this time, all the chlorpyrifos tolerances have been reinstated and are currently in effect.  

EPA expects to issue a proposed rule later this year to revoke the tolerances associated with all but the 11 food and feed crop uses identified in the 2020 Proposed Interim Decision whose tolerances could be retained. Based on the available data, retaining only the 11 food uses could decrease average annual pounds of chlorpyrifos applied in the U.S. by 70% as compared to historical usage.  

Cancellation of One Corteva Product  

The registration for Corteva’s ″Dursban 50W in Water Soluble Packets″ (Reg. No. 62719-72) is being voluntarily cancelled by the registrant. EPA published the Notice of Receipt of Requests from the registrant to voluntarily cancel this product registration on June 9, 2023, which was open for public comment until February 16, 2024. The Agency received five comments on this notice, which are addressed in the Final Cancellation Order for Cancelling Certain Pesticide Registrations and Uses posted today. The comments did not change the Agency’s decision to accept the registrant’s voluntary request to cancel this product.  

Cancellation of Uses for Gharda Products 

The products ″Chlorpyrifos Technical″ (Reg. No. 93182-3), ″Pilot 4E Chlorpyrifos Agricultural Insecticide″ (Reg. No. 93182-7), and ″Pilot 15G Chlorpyrifos Agricultural Insecticide″ (Reg. No. 93182-8) are being amended to terminate all food uses, except for uses on 11 crops specified in the 2020 Proposed Interim Decision with state restrictions as noted on product labels. EPA published the same Notice of Receipt of Requests for these use cancellations as for the cancellation of the Dursban product above. Similarly, the comments received did not change the Agency’s decision to accept the registrant’s requests to cancel the uses for these three products.  

Amendment for Existing Stocks for Liberty and Winfield Products 

EPA is amending the existing stocks provisions for five chlorpyrifos products that were voluntarily cancelled on August 31, 2022, and May 4, 2023. Liberty Chlorpyrifos Bifenthrin (Reg. No. 89168-20) and Liberty Chlorpyrifos 4E (Reg. No. 89168-24) are both chlorpyrifos products from registrant Liberty Crop Protection, LLC., that were voluntarily cancelled in August 2022. Tundra Supreme (Reg. No. 1381-243), CPF 4E (Reg. No. 83222-20), and CPF 15G (Reg. No. 83222-34) are all chlorpyrifos products from registrant Winfield Solutions, LLC., that were voluntarily cancelled in May 2023. The sale and distribution of existing stocks of these five products has been amended for consistency with the existing stocks provisions for other chlorpyrifos registrants. Sale and distribution of these products is now permitted until April 30, 2025, and use of existing stocks is now permitted until June 30, 2025. Any distribution, sale, or use of existing stocks of these products is permitted only in accordance with the terms of the final cancellation orders and existing stocks provisions of the final cancellation orders, as amended. 

The final cancellation orders and existing stocks amendment are available at docket ID EPA-HQ-OPP-2022-0223 at www.regulations.gov. For more information, view the Federal Register Notices.