CropLife America Disappointed by Environmental Protection Agency Process Mix-Up

May 12, 2009

Washington, DC - CropLife America (CLA) today reacted to the announcement of May 11 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to proceed with revocation of tolerances of a pesticide product prior to the resolution of the product's underlying registered uses.

"While our individual members compete with many specific products in the marketplace and our association does not take a position on any single product, CropLife America has consistently supported a clear and transparent process for the regulation of all pesticide products,” said Jay Vroom, CLA president and CEO. “EPA’s announcement that it will proceed with revocation of carbofuran tolerances before resolving the U.S. registered label uses of the product is completely out of phase with traditional regulatory process.”

"This strategy was initiated by the last Administration, to our dismay, and our industry was hopeful that the new Administration would put regular order back to work; however it instead has chosen to extend the incorrect path it inherited. Given the publicized commitment by newly appointed EPA leadership to sound science, transparency, and the rule of law, we are even more perplexed by this announcement.  In many respects, the decision to revoke carbofuran's tolerances does not live up to that commitment,” continued Vroom. “The FIFRA registration and cancellation procedure was intended to be used to resolve issues of this nature. EPA's use of the tolerance revocation procedure to regulate carbofuran effectively shuts out of the pesticide decision making process those who arguably have the most critical agricultural interests, such as growers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”

CLA noted concern with this process departure since it may increase the possibility of farm produce inadvertently violating pesticide residue allowances -- putting US farmers at an unnecessary risk for liability.

“The EPA’s action has the potential of creating a new and unwise regulatory precedent. CLA believes that it is critically important that the issues concerning carbofuran ultimately be resolved on the basis of sound scientific principles. We strongly encourage further consideration by the Administration," Vroom concluded.