The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently established that an insecticide manufactured by German company, Bayer, has a harmful effect on marine life. With this discovery, the agency has issued a notice of intent to cancel all insecticide products containing flubendiamide.
DW has reported that the EPA has ordered Bayer CropScience and Nichino America insecticides to halt production of the chemical. According to the publication, the harmful chemical is currently being used on over 170 crops.
Agriculture magazine reported that back in February, Bayer had refused the agency's request to voluntarily pull its product, an insecticide called Belt, since it contained the harmful chemical. Instead of pulling out the product, Bayer promised to seek a review of the registration of the product so they could come up with a dispute to EPA's claim in an administrative law hearing.
On a report by Reuters, the EPA discussed why the chemical was found to be harmful particularly to aquatic life. Based on their findings, flubendiamide posed a risk to the aquatic invertebrates, which were actually important to a healthy marine environment. Once the chemical breaks down, it turns into a more highly toxic material that poses harm to species that are an important part of the food chain of aquatic animals, particularly of fish. The EPA release also revealed that the chemical was found to be persistent in the environment. Continued used of products containing the chemical could lead to an unreasonable adverse effect on the environment.
Because on their finding, the EPA had requested the German manufacturer to voluntary cancel their product in accordance with the conditions of the original registration. As stated, once the EPA would find an unreasonable adverse effect of the chemical on the environment, companies with flubendiamide registrations should submit a request for voluntary cancellation within a week of the notification.
Since manufacturers have failed to comply with the registration terms, the EPA has started canceling all the currently registered flubendiamide products. An estimated number of over 170 products that use the chemical include tobacco, almonds, peanuts, soybeans, alfalfa, tomatoes, lettuce, bell peppers, cotton, and watermelons.
While the registration has been cancelled, the crops that have already been treated properly with the chemical or will still be treated with existing stocks of the chemical may still be legally sold.
