Daily News Archive
From July 1, 2002

Cancelled Pesticide Carbofuran Given Exemption for 10,000 Acres: 100,000 Additional Acres Requested

Cancelled in 1991 for its deadly effect on birds, granular carbofuran has been approved for use under a section 18 emergency exemption for a 10,000-acre application on Louisiana rice. An additional 100,000 acres worth of carbofuron has been requested and is undergoing public comment through Tuesday, July 2. Section 18 allows EPA to let pesticides not registered for a specific purpose be used under "emergency circumstances" such as a risk to human health or in cases of possible "significant economic loss." to grant this exemption for a cancelled use is illegal! According to Section 18 of the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) no pesticide can be given a specific use exemption "if there is no movement towered registration of the proposed use by the interested party," this means that previously banned pesticides cannot be given this exemption.

Scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) stated that "there are no known conditions under which carbofuran can be used without killing migratory birds. Many of these die-off incidents followed applications of carbofuran that were made with extraordinary care."

Please express your outrage over this illegal and unnerving decision to grant this exemption by writing a letter to the EPA. Tell EPA that they are violating there own regulation (sited in: 51 Fed.Reg. at 1899 (Jan. 15 1986)) on Section 18 by allowing a state to bring back a cancelled use of this pesticide:

Be sure to include the ID number OPP-2002-0124

Email: [email protected]

Or send to:

Public Information and Records Integrity Branch (PIRIB)
Information Resources and Services Division (7502C)
Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP), Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.
Washington, DC 20460