U.S. Supreme Court denies review of EPA decision on carbofuran domestic tolerances

Date:06-01-2011

The U.S. Supreme Court today denied a petition by FMC Corporation and three national grower groups for review of a lower appellate court ruling which had upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision to deny an administrative hearing on the revocation of domestic tolerances for carbofuran.

"We are greatly disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision not to review the lower court's ruling on EPA's actions, which sets a bad precedent for U.S. agriculture," said Dr. Michael Morelli, Director of Global Regulatory Affairs, FMC Agricultural Products Group.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit earlier reinstated import tolerances for carbofuran for rice, bananas, coffee and sugar cane, noting in its written opinion that EPA had acknowledged that "exposure to carbofuran in imported foods alone is safe." In light of the fact, the court ruled that EPA's decision to revoke the import tolerances for these foods was "arbitrary and capricious."

FMC believes carbofuran is a safe product after 40 years of productive use without a single incident of dietary or drinking water injury. The National Corn Growers Association, National Sunflower Association, National Potato Council and FMC jointly petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court. These grower associations, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and all 50 Secretaries of State Departments of Agriculture went on record supporting the continued, but very limited use of carbofuran that FMC had proposed to EPA.