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US EPA Moves to Terminate All Uses of Insecticide Endosulfan
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking action to end all uses of the insecticide endosulfan in the United States. Endosulfan, which is used on vegetables, fruits, and cotton, can pose unacceptable neurological and reproductive risks to farmworkers and wildlife and can persist in the environment.
New data generated in response to the
agency’s 2002 decision have shown that risks faced by workers are
greater than previously known. EPA also finds that there are risks
above the agency’s level of concern to aquatic and terrestrial
wildlife, as well as to birds and mammals that consume aquatic prey
which have ingested endosulfan. Farmworkers can be exposed to
endosulfan through inhalation and contact with the skin. Endosulfan is
used on a very small percentage of the U.S. food supply and does not
present a risk to human health from dietary exposure.
Makhteshim Agan of North America, the
manufacturer of endosulfan, is in discussions with EPA to voluntarily
terminate all endosulfan uses. EPA is currently working out the details
of the decision that will eliminate all endosulfan uses, while
incorporating consideration of the needs for growers to timely move to
lower-risk pest control practices.
Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide,
and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), EPA must consider endosulfan’s risks and
benefits. While EPA implemented various restrictions in a 2002
re-registration decision, EPA’s phaseout is based on new data and
scientific peer review, which have improved EPA’s assessment of the
ecological and worker risks from endosulfan. EPA’s 2010 revised
ecological risk assessment reflects a comprehensive review of all
available exposure and ecological effects information for endosulfan,
including independent external peer-reviewed recommendations made by
the endosulfan Scientific Advisory Panel.
Endosulfan, an organochlorine insecticide
first registered in the 1950s, also is used on ornamental shrubs,
trees, and herbaceous plants. It has no residential uses.
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