ISSUE 1069
Growers who use and desire continued availability
of the insecticide/growth regulator TEMIK (aldicarb) need
to note that on Wednesday (June 22) EPA announced the availability
of the aldicarb environmental fate and effects risk assessment.
This announcement only covers the EFED portion of the Interim
Reregistration Eligibility Decision activities, as the separate,
human health risk assessment will be released in the near
future. Publication of this notice starts the public comment
process associated with phase 3 of the IRED for this material.
Anyone wishing to submit comments on the EFED risk assessment
can do so until the closure of the comment period 60 days
(August 22) from original publication. The agency has many risk concerns following their original EFED evaluation. The assessment says that even when employing multiple evidence scenarios (such as typical use situations, average application rates, submitted toxicity studies, open literature data and field monitoring data), the agency is led to initially conclude that aldicarb poses unacceptable risks (mortality) to birds, mammals and aquatic organisms. Chronic reproductive effects in fish and aquatic
invertebrates concerns exist as well. These EFED documents
present risk concerns in these and other key situations that
appear inconsistent and contradictory to incident and effects
data from more than 30 years of TEMIK field use. Approximately
4.8 million pounds of aldicarb active ingredient are applied
annually to nearly 5 million acres nationwide. Many concerns
in the EFED risk assessment are consistently exceeded by a
factor of more than 100x, and frequently are exceeded by more
than 1000x. Any grower wishing to support continued availability of TEMIK by submitting comments on the EFED risk assessment should contact the Environmental and Pest Management Division for reference and comment submission information and refer to the http://docket.epa.gov/edkpub/do/EDKStaffCollectionDetailView?objectId=0b0007d4807f3e6c website.
ALSO IN THIS WEEK'S RAP-UP (Members-Only articles are indicated in bold.) METHYL BROMIDE ALTERNATIVES RESEARCH SUMMIT FFVA, FARM BUREAU HOLD WORKSHOP ON TREE MORTALITY ISSUE BRONSON FIRES UP TEACHERS AT AG IN THE CLASSROOM WORKSHOP
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