New Zealand EPA declined DuPont’s Exirel insecticide used as aerial spraying

The New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has declined an application for the insecticide Exirel to be also used as an aerial spray to control stock crop pests.

DuPont Limited applied to extend the use of Exirel to allow aerial spraying over uneven terrain and during wet conditions. Exirel contains the active ingredient cyantraniliprole, and is already approved for ground-based use to control caterpillars and aphids in fodder brassica crops, such as turnips, swede, forage, rape and kale.

Fiona Thomson-Carter, General Manager of the EPA’s Hazardous Substances and New Organisms team, said: “An EPA Decision-Making Committee found that aerial spraying posed additional risks to aquatic organisms without additional benefits. Countering these would be difficult to do with any certainty because of the terrain.”

The four submissions received raised concerns about the potential impact of aerial spraying on the environment, particularly around bees and other organisms, as well as nearby lakes streams, rivers and other ecosystems.