AgroPages-US seeks more data on endosulfan-Agricultural news

The US EPA is seeking further information on the organochlorine insecticide/acaricide, endosulfan, before it decides on a request to ban the pesticide. The Agency wants data on residues of the insecticide in commodities consumed by indigenous people in Alaska as well as information on bioaccumulation, persistence, toxicity, monitoring, transport and ecological incidents.
The EPA plans to seek public comment in early 2009 on a petition by the environmentalist groups, the National Resources Defense Council and Pesticides Action Network, to cancel all uses of endosulfan. The notice will be issued in conjunction with a request for comment on the findings of an October 2008 Scientific Advisory Panel meeting on persistent bioaccumulative toxicants.
Meanwhile, the Agency is seeking comment on the environmentalist groups’ call for all endosulfan tolerances to be revoked. The groups filed the petition in February in response to the EPA’s updated risk assessments on the pesticide. A coalition of environmentalist and farmworker advocate groups subsequently sued the Agency over the re-registration of endosulfan.
The petition argues that data on the toxicity, persistence and bioaccumulative properties of endosulfan justify revocation of all tolerances and cancellation of all uses. “This is particularly true in light of the EPA’s own assessment showing very few to no benefits for endosulfan uses,” the petition states. Comments on the petition to revoke tolerances must be submitted by October 20th.