U.S. EPA issues final cancellation and termination of uses order for several chlorpyrifos products

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing a final order terminating some uses of chlorpyrifos products. EPA published the Notice of Receipt of Requests from the registrants to voluntarily cancel or terminate uses for these product registrations on April 3, 2024, which was open for public comment until May 3, 2024. The Agency received two comments on this notice. After considering these comments, the Agency is finalizing its decision to accept the registrants’ voluntary requests to cancel or terminate uses for these products. Any distribution, sale, or use of existing stocks of these products is permitted only in accordance with the terms of the final order and existing stocks provisions of the final order.

Provisions for Disposition of Existing Stocks

• Sale and distribution of existing stocks of Chlorpyrifos 61.5% MUP will not be permitted after the final cancellation order is issued. Although the April 3, 2024 notice indicated that EPA intended to allow sale and distribution of this product until April 30, 2025, that date was intended to apply to end use products only and thus does not apply because this is a MUP. This will also help limit the amount of additional chlorpyrifos end use products that can be produced from this MUP.

  
  

• Sale and distribution of existing stocks of Chlorpyrifos 4 EC will be permitted until April 30, 2025.

  
  

• Use of existing stocks of Chlorpyrifos 4 EC on food, food processing sites, and food manufacturing sites must be consistent with the product labeling and will be permitted until June 30, 2025.

  
  

• Use of existing stocks of Chlorpyrifos 61.5% MUP and Chlorpyrifos 4 EC for non-food purposes is permitted until existing stocks are exhausted, as long as such use is in accordance with the labeling.

After these dates, sale and distribution of existing stocks will be prohibited, except for export consistent with FIFRA section 17 (7 U.S.C. 136o), or for proper disposal in accordance with state regulations.

The products bear labeling only for non-food use. Therefore, EPA is allowing sale and distribution of existing stocks of those products for one year after publication of the cancellation order. Thereafter, sale and distribution of existing stocks of the product will be prohibited, except for export consistent with FIFRA section 17 (7 U.S.C. 136o), or for proper disposal in accordance with state regulations.

Use of existing stocks is permitted until such stocks are exhausted, provided that use is consistent with the terms of the previously approved labeling on, or that accompanied, the cancelled products.

Background

Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate insecticide that has been used for many food crops, including 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 essentially 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 chlorpyrifos tolerances, without taking public comment or engaging in ″further fact-finding.″

On November 2, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated EPA’s August 2021 rule revoking all 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 pre-August 2021 final rule 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 Agency’s 2020 Proposed Interim Decision. Based on the available data, retaining only these 11 food uses could decrease average annual pounds of chlorpyrifos applied in the U.S. by 70% as compared to historical usage.