Do you apply chlorpyrifos?

11.01.07 - By CAROL KINSLEY

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking public comment on a Sept. 12, 2007, petition from the National Resources Defense Council and Pesticide Action Network North America, requesting that the agency revoke all tolerances and cancel all registrations for the pesticide chlorpyrifos.
Specific instructions for filing comments may be found at www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/2007/October/Day-17/p20442.htm . Comments must be received by Dec. 17.
Chlorpyrifos has been widely used in homes and on farms. In the home, it was used to control cockroaches, fleas, and termites; it was also used in some pet flea and tick collars. On the farm, it is used to control ticks on cattle and as a spray to control crop pests. Chlorpyrifos was an ingredient in Dursban, Empire and Lorsban. Use has been severely restricted since Dec. 31, 2001.
The petitioners, NRDC and PANNA, claim that EPA cannot make a finding that there is a reasonable certainty of no harm from dietary residues of chlorpyrifos and, therefore, that the agency must revoke all tolerances established under section 408 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act. As a part of their petition, NRDC and PANNA claim that the EPA did not consider the full spectrum of potential health effects associated with chlorpyrifos in connection with its reassessment of the existing chlorpyrifos tolerances, including:
1. Evidence showing the potential for a greater than 10-fold difference in susceptibility to chlorpyrifos across human populations and, in particular, evidence of greater susceptibility in early life stages than EPA estimated;
2. The endocrine disrupting effects of the chemical, or
3. Evidence of cancer risk data as indicated from a National Institutes of Health study.
The petition further asserts that EPA's evaluation of chlorpyrifos in the organophosphate cumulative risk assessment misrepresented the risks of chlorpyrifos and that EPA failed to incorporate inhalation routes of exposure to chlorpyrifos in conducting its assessment.
EPA's human health assessment of chlorpyrifos and findings on whether the tolerances for chlorpyrifos comply with the safety standard in the above cited law, are contained in the Interim Reregistration Eligibility Decision document for chlorpyrifos and the organophosphate CRA, which are available on EPA's pesticide Web page at www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/status.htm  and www.epa.gov/pesticides/cumulative/2006-op/index.htm .
The Virginia Turfgrass Council also is interested in knowing how this cancellation of all uses of the chemical would affect the ability to control turfgrass pests. Send email to vaturf@...  or call (757) 464-1004.