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Pesticide News Story: The EPA’s Final Decision on the New Active Ingredient Sulfoxaflor
For Release: May 6, 2013
The EPA has granted unconditional registrations for the new active ingredient sulfoxaflor, formulated as a manufacturing use product and two end-use products for use in production agriculture. The EPA is granting the use of sulfoxaflor on barley, bulb vegetables, canola, citrus, cotton, cucurbit vegetables, fruiting vegetables, leafy vegetables, low-growing berries, okra, ornamentals (herbaceous and woody), pistachio, pome fruits, root and tuber vegetables, small vine climbing fruit (except fuzzy kiwifruit), soybean, stone fruit, succulent, edible podded and dry beans, tree nuts, triticale, turfgrass, watercress and wheat.
Occupational worker and food safety data confirm these uses are safe when sulfoxaflor is used in accordance with the labeling terms and restrictions. Also, the ecological effects profile for sulfoxaflor supports the registration finding. One area of focus in the review involved pollinator health, and the final label includes robust terms for protecting pollinators. The EPA performed its data evaluation and assessments in collaboration with its counterpart agencies in Canada and Australia. Scientists from the three authorities reviewed over 400 studies and peer reviewed each other’s work.
The registration will provide growers with a new pest management tool for use on piercing/sucking insects. Sulfoxaflor has been used under an emergency clearance on cotton in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana to control the tarnished plant bug, an insect that has developed resistance to alternative registered pesticides. Sulfoxaflor belongs to its own new insecticide subclass in terms of its mode of action, so it is expected to be used by producers faced with pests that have developed resistance to other alternatives.
For additional information please refer to the docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0889 at the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.