U.S. EPA aims to cancel last food use registrations for chlorpyrifos

The last remaining registrations that allow chlorpyrifos to be used on food crops would be canceled under a pair of notices the U.S. EPA is proposing, a move that would end food uses of a pesticide the agency says harms children.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s effort comes as industry groups fight in court for what they describe as a ″vitally important″ tool to protect grains, fruits, and vegetables from pests. Their case will be heard in oral argument on Dec. 15 before the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

In a notice published on Tuesday, the EPA announced that Corteva Agriscience LLC and two other companies have voluntarily agreed to cancel their registrations for more than a dozen pesticide formulations made with chlorpyrifos that have been used on cherries, corn, cucumbers, wheat, and other grains, fruits and vegetables.

The EPA will announce in a notice to be published on Wednesday that it intends to cancel the last remaining food-use registrations for chlorpyrifos, which are held by Gharda Chemicals.

″It’s taken far too long, but finally EPA has ended all food uses of chlorpyrifos in the US. Finally, it is protecting our children from learning disabilities,″ said Patti A. Goldman, a senior attorney with Earthjustice.

Earthjustice, a nonprofit legal organization, represented a coalition of farm labor and other groups that successfully sued the EPA in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, resulting in the agency’s ban.

The other companies using chlorpyrifos have voluntarily canceled their registrations, Goldman said. ″Gharda is the outlier, trying to make money off this chemical at the expense of our children,″ she said.

Gharda’s attorneys didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

The company joined the Red River Valley Sugarbeet Growers Association, American Soybean Association, and other groups in May in a lawsuit that asks the Eighth Circuit to order the EPA to void its ban. The case is Red River Valley Sugarbeet Growers Ass’n v. Regan.

Court Ruling Spurred Ban

The two Federal Register notices are the latest actions the EPA has taken to comply with an April 2021 Ninth Circuit court decision on chlorpyrifos that forced the agency to decide whether it would ban chlorpyrifos residues on food or limit them more stringently.

The agency announced in August 2021 that due to scientific evidence that small amounts of chlorpyrifos could harm children’s developing brains, chlorpyrifos no longer met the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act’s safety standards. The agency said it would would ban the pesticide’s use for food crops effective Feb. 28, 2022, under that law.

Since then the agency also has been working with pesticide manufacturers asking them to voluntarily cancel their registrations, granted under a separate law, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, which allow them to use the chlorpyrifos on food crops. The agency periodically has announced these cancellations, which included some Gharda voluntarily made.

But Gharda didn’t agree to cancel its registrations for some products it sells to combat pests on fruits, nuts, sweet potatoes, and other crops, the EPA said. Therefore the agency plans to do so in one month—unless a hearing opposing the action is requested, Wednesday’s notice said.

Corteva Agriscience’s announcement in 2020 that it would exit the chlorpyrifos market opened the door for Gharda to work to increase its sales.

″If Corteva isn’t able to meet the demands of the marketplace, we are well prepared to step in,″ Ram Seethapathi, president of Gharda Chemicals International Inc., a subsidiary of India-based Gharda Chemicals Ltd., said at the time.