EPA: Insecticide Risk on Diet, Handling

Agency Set to Publish Chlorpyrifos Risk Assessment, Proposed Decision in October

Todd Neeley
By  Todd Neeley , DTN Environmental Editor
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EPA on Tuesday released a draft risk assessment on the insecticide chlorpyrifos. (DTN file photo by Tom Dodge)

OMAHA (DTN) -- EPA on Tuesday released its draft risk assessment of the insecticide chlorpyrifos, finding dietary risks in adults and children, as well as to professional handlers of the chemical.

The agency's draft assessment also identifies potential adverse effects in mammals, birds, fish, and terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates.

EPA said it will open a 60-day public comment period on the risk assessment when it issues a proposed interim decision in October. That decision is expected to outline potential risk management options for the insecticide.

In addition to considering public comment, EPA said in a news release that it will also consider input and recommendations from a September scientific advisory panel once the panel's report is released in December.

Corteva announced in February that it was phasing out production of chlorpyrifos. The company cited falling demand for the product in the United States as the primary reason for the decision, but the chemical also has faced criticism and litigation over its health risks for decades.

EPA said in its risk assessment that with "limited remaining residential uses of chlorpyrifos, EPA found no risks of concern, including to children's health, when products are used according to the label instructions."

Chlorpyrifos is the main ingredient in what was Dow AgroSciences' -- now Corteva Agriscience's -- Lorsban insecticide. Corteva is a spinoff agricultural company from parent company DowDuPont, formed when Dow and DuPont merged in 2017.

First registered in 1965, chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate insecticide used in a broad range of crops, including corn, alfalfa, sugar beets, cotton, wheat, soybeans and peanuts. Chlorpyrifos targets a range of insects, such as aphids, armyworms, cutworms, bean leaf beetle, rootworm, spider mites, lygus, stink bugs and midges.

It has been available under several brand names, including Lorsban and Cobalt. Between 2012 and 2014, then-registrant Dow AgroSciences estimated to EPA that an average of 640,000 pounds were applied to an average of almost 800,000 corn acres per year.

In that same time period, the company reported that chlorpyrifos was the leading ingredient used to control wheat midge in wheat and that 600,000 pounds were used on roughly 1.6 million wheat acres per year, as well as an average of 105,000 pounds on 350,000 cotton acres per year.

EPA vowed to continue its re-registration of chlorpyrifos, ensuring that generic formulations of the chemical will remain legal to use in the years to come.

The agency recently has defended the chemical against legal challenges based on concerns about the neurodevelopmental effects it can have on people, particularly infants. In recent years, some states and countries have initiated bans on chlorpyrifos, such as Hawaii, California, New York, the UK and the EU.

In 2015, EPA proposed revoking all food residue tolerances for chlorpyrifos in response to a petition from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Pesticide Action Network North America, which would effectively end use of the chemical. But that decision was reversed in 2017 by Scott Pruitt, former administrator of the EPA.

Facing litigation and court orders over the move, EPA finalized its decision in July 2019 not to ban the insecticide.

EPA said it would expedite what has been an ongoing review of chlorpyrifos in response to public concerns raised. The agency has until 2022 to complete its review.

The EPA made its decision in July as part of a court order issued on April 19, 2019, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.

Read EPA's risk assessment here: https://beta.regulations.gov/….

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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Todd Neeley

Todd Neeley
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