The popular pesticide Dursban is being banned for household use and faces agricultural restrictions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday.
The agency has concluded that the pesticide, chlorpyrifos -- sold under the trade names Dursban and Lorsban -- poses a risk to children because of its potential effects on the nervous system and possibly brain development.Because of the risk, the EPA will restrict its use in commercial agriculture on apples and grapes and ban its use on tomatoes -- the kinds of foods often consumed by children.
The EPA ordered Dow Chemical Co. to immediately halt production of the chemical but didn't recall the product.
The manufacturer, Dow AgroSciences of Indianapolis, says the product is safe. "Chlorpyrifos is used to protect virtually every major crop grown in the U.S. from insect damage. It has been used in and around millions of homes each year to safeguard families and pets from dangerous pests like cockroaches, ticks, fleas, termites, spiders and fire ants," said Garry Hamlin, spokesman for Dow AgroSciences.
Intermountain Farmers Association (IFA), a Utah cooperative, worries about its impact to farmers.
"Lorsban is a product widely used by farmers," said Wayne Helms, agronomy department manager for IFA. "It is a very good insecticide that controls insects."
Under the EPA phase-out, existing stocks of Dursban and Lorsban may continue to be sold for 18 months.
Environmentalists are calling for immediate removal.
'When the EPA identifies hazards it should stop their use," said Jay Feldman, executive director of the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides.
"There's concern that these products are going to remain on the shelves" and that the insecticide will continue -- although at much reduced levels -- to be used in agriculture, said David Wallinga, a scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
IFA said it will comply with the EPA ban but won't remove the pesticides until required.
Todd Hettenbach said his group, Environmental Working Group, have asked big retailers like Wal-Mart and Home Depot, to stop selling the products.
"EPA showed great leadership in the face of overwhelming pressure (from pesticide industry); now we're calling on retailers to remove the product from their shelves," Hettenbach said.
Chlorpyrifos is one of the most widely used insecticides. It is found on everything from pet flea collars to garden and lawn chemicals and indoor bug sprays. It also has been used widely in agriculture to protect fruits, vegetables and grains from insects.
Hundreds of consumer products contain the chemical compound, and many people can be expected to buy the products -- bug sprays and lawn and garden insecticides, for example -- this summer not knowing of the health risks, said Wallinga, who nevertheless called the EPA action "a good step."
EPA said the new restrictions and the agreement with Dow Chemical provides the swiftest way to remove the material from the market. Most of the products containing chlorpyrifos for nonagricultural purposes will be gone by the end of the year, said one of the EPA officials.
Chlorpyrifos is among a family of 37 pesticides known as organophosphates that attack the nervous system and are under review by the EPA because of their potential health effects on children. Congress passed a law four years ago requiring the review to be completed by October 1999, but so far only a handful of the chemicals have been examined.
Last year the agency banned the use of the pesticide methyl parathion on fruits and many vegetables and restricted the use of azinphos-methyl. Like chlorpyrifos, they are in the organophosphate family.
Last month, an EPA draft study concluded that another insecticide, diazinon, which is also that family, may pose a greater health risks than previously thought. This pesticide also is widely used in homes and gardens. A final review on diazinon is expected before the end of the year.
Under the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, the EPA is required to restrict or ban a pesticide's use if it poses a specific threat to children. The increased concern about chlorpyrifos emerged after studies -- some conducted by Dow Chemical Co. -- found that the compound causes brain damage in fetal rats, whose mothers were given the pesticide.
No such direct link has been established in humans, but the animal tests were enough to trigger a finding that the pesticide should not be used where children might become exposed, scientists said.
Contributing: The Associated Press