EPA Cancels Sulfoxaflor Products; Dow Responds
17 November 2015 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a cancellation order for all previously registered sulfoxaflor products in response to a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals finding that EPA improperly approved the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act registrations of the pesticide.
The court’s order became effective on Nov. 12, after which distribution or sale by the registrant of cancelled sulfoxaflor products is prohibited, unless such distribution or sale is for the purpose of disposal or export. Also, stocks of cancelled products held by persons other than the registrant may not be commercially distributed in the United States, but instead may be distributed only to facilitate return to the manufacturer or for proper disposal or lawful export. Use of existing stocks by end users is permitted provided such use is consistent in all respects with the previously-approved labeling for the product, EPA said.
EPA said that the maximum pesticide residue levels for sulfoxaflor are not affected by either the court’s decision or EPA’s cancellation order, so crops that have been properly treated with sulfoxaflor or that may be treated with existing stocks as described in the final cancellation order can still be sold legally.
Dow Responds
Citing the extensive data currently available on sulfoxaflor, Dow AgroSciences expects the pollinator protection concerns expressed in the Sept. 10 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision “to be readily and thoroughly addressed by EPA through further review of scientific data, supporting pressing grower needs for protection against destructive crop pests with renewed U.S. registrations of sulfoxaflor-containing products.”
“Four full years of widespread U.S. product use – with additional use in Canada, Australia and other nations – have demonstrated excellent sulfoxaflor performance worldwide with no noted adverse effects on pollinators,” Dow said in a statement.
Registrations outside the U.S. of sulfoxaflor-containing products should not be impacted by this decision, Dow said.
As part of its recent action, EPA has issued an existing stocks provision allowing growers to use sulfoxaflor-containing products they have in hand consistent with directions on the pre-existing product label. “Dow AgroSciences is, however, disappointed with EPA’s existing stocks provision which effectively removes a critical tool from the American grower by not allowing existing inventories of sulfoxaflor-containing products to be sold and distributed to end-users while EPA considers its next steps.
Dow AgroSciences remains confident in the benefits offered by this new class of insecticides and will work diligently with EPA and States to achieve new registrations for these important products to support the American grower.”
Dow AgroSciences added that contrary to misrepresentations circulated by pesticide opponents, sulfoxaflor is a sulfoximine-class insecticide, not a neonicotinoid, a distinction clearly established by the Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC) and published in the open scientific literature.
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