FMC Defends Carbofuran In US
20 February 2008 FMC Corp. is defending carbofuran against the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to ban all uses of the chemical, according to Chemical & Engineering News.
Several farm-state members of Congress are urging EPA to reconsider its decision to cancel all uses of the chemical, which the agency elected to do because it was deemed to pose “significant risks” to human health and wildlife, with “minimal, if any, benefit to growers.”
FMC, which sells carbofuran under the brand name Furadan, says that EPA has exaggerated the risks of the active ingredient and has ignored the best science available for analyzing it. Earlier this month, an EPA advisory panel reviewed the science supporting the agency’s risk/benefit assessment, and is expected to issue its findings next month.
Carbofuran first came under fire in the 1980s after EPA estimated that more than a million birds were killed each year by the easily eaten granular formulation, which was banned by EPA in 1994. The liquid form has remained on the market and is still used to protect alfalfa, soybeans, and several other crops from insects.
“EPA has asserted that carbofuran poses an unacceptable risk to birds and to humans, yet in order to reach these conclusions EPA must, and does, reject the results of nearly all of the scientific studies that show carbofuran’s risks to be quite small for the limited uses that the registrant seeks to retain,” FMC said. The company is asking EPA to allow continued use of carbofuran on five crops: cotton, corn, potatoes, melons, and sunflowers. All other approved uses will not be defended.
“The real-world situation with this product is that it’s used in very limited situations where there is no alternative,” FMC spokesman James Fitzwater said. “It’s an older product, but it’s still effective against some pests where there is no alternative. That’s really why we’re defending this product.” If EPA continues to pursue a ban on carbofuran after the advisory board issues its findings, Fitzwater says FMC will request a hearing before an administrative law judge, where the benefits and risks of the chemical will be weighed fully.
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