U.S. EPA grants Bayer's request for hearing on BELT pesticide

Bayer CropScience says an U.S.EPA hearing it requested on the agency's decision to pull Bayer's BELT pesticide will be held the second week of May. 

 

Bayer's vice president of regulatory affairs, Dana Sargeant, says if a final review board decides to remove the product, growers will ironically be left with choices that could pose other environmental risks. 

 

Sargeant says, "They will most likely have to rely on other types of chemistries that are not as easy on beneficial insects. And, they'll have to rely on, probably, more applications of other products." 

 

Sargeant says the EPA will make a decision in early July. In the meantime, she tells Brownfield, growers can still use BELT. 

 

"The registration is in full effect and we continue to sell, distribute and it can be used by growers. Absolutely." 

 

BELT goes after pests in many of California's tree nut and vegetable crops and a caterpillar in soybeans grown in the southeast. Sargeant says Bayer's five years of study in real world conditions shows the safety of the pesticide, but that EPA relies on "theoretical models" that show it could harm a certain form of aquatic life.