EPA Bans Carbofuran Residue On Food

July 25, 2008 10:58 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it will ban the pesticide carbofuran on domestic or imported food, in effect prohibiting the chemical in the U.S.

The agency imposed the ban because its chemical residue has unacceptable safety risk to young children. Up to a million pounds of carbofuran are used on U.S. farms annually, but it affects less than 1 percent of the nation's farm lands. However, it is used extensively in developing nations on basic food crops such as rice, bananas, coffee and sugar cane.

James Gulliford, associate EPA administrator for the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, said, quoted by the Washington Post, "This is a product that we don't believe meets our high standards for the general population, particularly for small children who are more sensitive... While there is little exposure today, we don't think there's a need, a reason for any exposure."

The EPA banned the chemical based on petitions of the American Bird Conservancy and the Natural Resources Defense Council, which pushed for its prohibition because of its toxic effect on animals and human. For the past 40 years, carbofuran has killed millions of wild birds, according to the conservancy.

FMC, a manufacturer of the chemical which had previously battled the EPA in court over its plan to cancel carbofuran's registration, said it will fight to keep the pesticide on the market.

James Fitzwater, spokesman of FMC, told Washington Post, "It does give us an opportunity to prove this product is safe from a dietary risk standpoint... We think we have a good case."

Carbofuran's neurotoxin level went beyond the EPA's benchmarks by 200 percent for children between 1 to 2, according to Steven Bradbury, the director of EPA's Special Review and Re-registration Division.