WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. EPA is canceling or restricting the use of the insecticide methomyl on some crops; however, it will continue to be used on many others.
The EPA made its latest announcement Jan. 29, saying the agency and the makers of methomyl have agreed to cancel some uses of the chemistry and to limit its use on certain crops to reduce risks to drinking water. Methomyl is part of a class of chemistries known as carbamates.
According to EPA, this action is a continuation of its efforts to reduce carbamate use, thereby protecting people’s health, especially the health of children, who may be more sensitive to pesticides than adults. EPA stated it found drinking water risks during its periodic evaluation of methomyl and negotiated with the manufacturers to voluntarily cancel certain uses.
The main registrant for methomyl is DuPont, although there are others. Voluntary cancellation is the quickest way to eliminate risk, EPA stated. DuPont agreed to the changes but disagrees with the EPA’s findings.
EPA was mainly concerned about methomyl’s use in Florida and California regarding drinking water; however, the following measures will be implemented nationwide. Methomyl’s use on barley, oats and rye will be canceled. Its use on wheat will be limited to Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The number of applications to corn, celery, head lettuce and leaf lettuce will be reduced. The number of applications and seasonal application rate for peppers will be reduced, as well.
According to a similar announcement last August, the agency said the number of applications for celery, head lettuce and peppers would be reduced by 20 percent and seasonal maximum rates would be reduced by 12-20 percent for these crops. It also said it would add label language for corn to change the timing of applications so that only two can occur prior to tassel push at the 1-2 leaf stage, and disallow applications on bare soil.
Reduction of the number of applications to leaf lettuce, field corn, popcorn and seed corn will be reduced by 25-50 percent. The agency says these measures are currently being phased in.
The only non-ag use of the product is for fly bait. The agency reached an agreement with manufacturers to stop making and selling some fly bait products and add information to the label that clarifies the approved uses. EPA says these changes will reduce the illegal use of methomyl fly bait products, which can kill wildlife – an issue that a number of states raised.
DuPont makes the insecticide Lannate in two different forms, which contains methomyl. According to its product literature, Lannate is labeled for use on more than 100 field, fruit, and vegetable crops for the control of more than 140 damaging insects, including worms and sucking and chewing pests.
"Methomyl is registered on quite a number of crops," said Ray McAllister, senior director of regulatory policy at CropLife America, an association representing pesticide makers. According to him, each registered use of a pesticide can cost thousands of dollars to the registrant every year. This means "there’s a market for each of these uses."
DuPont didn’t formally comment on the most recent notices; however, it has made comment in the past about the direction EPA has been moving in regarding methomyl. For example, in a document DuPont submitted to the EPA on Nov. 22, 2010, regarding methomyl, company spokesman Pat Devine took a swipe at EPA’s methods when he wrote DuPont "has submitted methomyl changes deleting grapes" due to EPA’s calculations regarding methomyl’s effects on drinking water.
"DuPont will continue working with the EPA and concerned industry members and grower organizations to encourage the use of more current, scientifically sound modeling," he wrote.
In a comment last week, DuPont spokes-man Gregg Schmidt said it has voluntarily agreed to make changes to its methomyl labels, but the company "believes that use of more advanced and available modeling methodologies in the risk assessment would likely have not required changes to the labels and all crops and uses could possibly have been maintained."
Schmidt added DuPont has been in constant communication and negotiation with EPA regarding its drinking water assessment and re-registration process for methomyl.
Bayer Crop Life purchases methomyl for use as a raw material in the production of its insecticide Larvin, or thiodicarb, said Greg Coffey, a spokesman for Bayer. He said the company will not be impacted by the EPA’s actions.
According to an EPA label for methomyl from 2013, the product is approved for use on alfalfa, anise, asparagus, barley, beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, collards, corn, cotton, cucumbers, lettuce, melons, mint, oats, peanuts, peas, peppermint, peppers, potatoes, rye, soybeans, spinach, sugar beets, summer squash and wheat.
Methomyl was first registered in 1968 and then re-registered in 1998.
