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Pesticide News Story: Carbaryl RED Amended; EPA Denies NRDC Petition to Cancel Uses and Revoke Tolerances
For Release: October 29, 2008
As announced in Federal Register notices published on October 29, 2008, EPA has amended the September 2007 Carbaryl Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) and denied a petition from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to cancel all carbaryl registrations and revoke all tolerances. In responding to the petition, EPA found that NRDC has neither provided a basis for cancelling carbaryl uses nor demonstrated that carbaryl tolerances are unsafe. The Agency continues to believe that carbaryl tolerances provide a reasonable certainty of no harm.
EPA has amended the carbaryl RED to incorporate a revised occupational exposure and risk assessment. The Agency reevaluated the occupational risk assessment and regulatory decision for carbaryl to consider and incorporate public comments on the RED, new worker monitoring and toxicology studies submitted by the registrant, and new science and methodologies. As a result, the Agency is modifying certain worker risk mitigation measures that were imposed in the 2004 Interim RED for carbaryl. For most handler and post-application scenarios, risk mitigation measures such as personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements either remain the same or are reduced. Details are provided in the Amended RED for Carbaryl.
In recent weeks, to implement other aspects of the Agency’s reregistration decisions for carbaryl, EPA has announced proposed and final rules to revoke, modify, and establish specific carbaryl tolerances, and has requested comment on the registrant’s requests to voluntarily cancel certain carbaryl uses, as specified in the RED and Interim RED. As a result of these actions, the increased protections envisioned in these decisions are being realized. For example, cancellation of all carbaryl dust formulations in agriculture will help protect bees because dusts are extremely hazardous to bees.
An N-methyl carbamate insecticide, carbaryl is used to control pests on many agricultural food crops and on cut flowers, ornamentals, turf, and golf courses. Carbaryl may also be used on residential gardens and in oyster beds.
Additional information is available on EPA’s carbaryl reregistration Web page.