Flax Council of Canada – ‘Alert’ December 14, 2015
Potential Ban on Chlorpyrifos by December 2016 – USA Environmental Protection Agency Ruling Could Affect Canadian Producers
In June 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (U.S) issued a notice stating its intent to revoke all tolerances to chlorpyrifos by December 2016. The issue stated that,
“At this time, the agency is unable to conclude that the risk from aggregate exposure from the use of chlorpyrifos meets the safety standard of section 408(b) (2) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). Accordingly, EPA is proposing to revoke all tolerances for chlorpyrifos. EPA is specifically soliciting comment on whether there is an interest in retaining any individual tolerances, or group of tolerances, and whether information exists to demonstrate that such tolerance(s) meet(s) the FFDCA section 408(b) safety standard.”
The EPA is currently accepting comments from the public and industry up to the January 5th, 2016 deadline, the final ruling is expected in December 2016. Should the EPA proposition be passed, chlorpyrifos would not be tolerated on domestic and imported food grade products.
Chlorpyrifos is an extensively used insecticide for a variety of crops and pests. In flax production it is registered to control cutworms, variegated cutworms, Bertha armyworm and armyworm. According to Provincial Specialists in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, a loss of chlorpyrifos is not deemed a future significant issue in flax since other insecticide options for cutworm control exist. You may want to check your farm records to see if you applied chlorpyrifos to control insects in your flax fields, in 2015 or earlier. The various trade names of chlorpyrifos include Lorsban 4E, Pyrinex 480EC, Nufos 4E, Citadel 480EC, Pyrifos 15G, Warhawk 480EC and MPOWER Krypton.
The Flax Council of Canada advises Canadian producers to maintain an awareness of this issue as it progresses. For future developments on the EPA ruling on chlorpyrifos check back to the Flax Council of Canada or EPA website.
For more information on the proposed EPA ruling on chlorpyrifos, visit the EPA website:
