Washington, DC, USA
October 30, 2015

CropLife America (CLA) is disappointed at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to revoke food residue tolerances for chlorpyrifos in response to a court-ordered deadline. In proposing this action, EPA has ignored the thousands of scientific studies that have examined and validated the product’s safe use and agricultural importance. Chlorpyrifos is one of the most widely-tested products across the world and is an invaluable tool for growers on a diverse array of crops.

Following an unwarranted petition seeking these revocations, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court denied a request from EPA to extend its deadline to make a revocation decision to April 15, 2016. The court instead forced the Agency to respond by October 31, 2015, before EPA had an opportunity to complete its drinking water risk assessment.

“It is unfortunate that court-mandated deadlines helped result in the Agency’s proposal to revoke food residue tolerances for a beneficial and wide-reaching crop protection product,” commented Jay Vroom, president and CEO of CropLife America. “Unnecessary litigation-driven deadlines risk arbitrarily taking away valuable tools from all farmers, and this is just such a scenario. This is a drastic and unnecessary step that is caused by wasteful, agenda-driven litigation. We are confident that due legal and scientific process will make this proposed action unnecessary.”

CLA looks forward to submitting comments on EPA’s proposal.

Website: http://www.croplifeamerica.org

Published: November 3, 2015