US EPA phased out two toxic pesticides

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that two toxic pesticides have been voluntarily removed from the market by the manufacturer. This order, published in the Federal Register on Sept 23rd, 2009, cancels the last uses of disulfoton and methamidophos in the United States.

Both of these chemicals are in a class of insecticide called organophosphates; nerve agents known to be highly toxic to birds and humans. They can poison birds when they unwittingly eat granules of the pesticide, when they eat seeds, berries, or insects that have been contaminated, when they prey on rodents, birds, or other animals that have themselves been poisoned, or even simply by absorbing the chemical through their skin. Exposure to organophosphates can lead to direct mortality, altered breeding behavior, and neurological effects that may increase their likelihood of being killed by a predator, getting hit by a car, or dying prematurely from many other causes.

As a result of their danger, many organophosphates have been removed from the market, but these two pesticides are still used on a variety of food and non-food crops, posing a high risk to birds.

"We are glad to hear that the manufacturer, Bayer CropScience, has done the right thing and finally removed these bad actors from the environmental stage,” said Dr. Michael Fry, American Bird Conservancy’s Director of Conservation Advocacy. “It is time for all the toxic pre-war dinosaurs to be phased out in favor of newer, less hazardous alternatives that pose less of a threat to birds and our environment.”

Data from American Bird Conservancy’s Avian Incident Monitoring System database document hundreds of bird deaths due to these two pesticides since 1980. However, the vast majority of birds killed likely go undiscovered or unreported, meaning the death toll has certainly been significantly higher. Many of the birds exposed to these pesticides are migratory birds, including hummingbirds, Canada Geese, American Robins, and Swainson’s Hawks, all of which are protected by law under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The cancellations of most uses of these chemicals are effective December 31, 2009, with two uses of disulfoton allowed until the end of 2010. Disulfoton was banned by the European Union in 2003, and methamidophos has been banned by 53 countries in accordance with the Rotterdam Convention of the UN.