American Soybean Association (ASA) submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week supporting continued sale of chlorpyrifos, one of the few remaining compounds in the organophosphorus class of chemicals and the most widely used insecticide against soybean aphid.  The EPA’s proposal is to revoke tolerances for chlorpyrifos are in response to a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, which ordered the agency to respond to an administrative petition to revoke all tolerances. The petition was originally filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA). They questioned the EPA’s new methodologies for evaluating the pesticide that went into the reregistration process and particularly the dietary exposure and drinking water assessments.

“Without chlorpyrifos … farmers will be forced to rely on pyrethroid insecticides, and in just a few years resistance to that class will become a problem. The use of only pyrethroids can lead to outbreaks of pests such as spider mites and rotational sprays with chlorpyrifos are an essential part of integrated pest management,” ASA’s comments state. “Soybean farmers are well-versed in how to apply chlorpyrifos responsibly and rely on it as a good option in many insect management systems where residual control is either not needed or wanted.”

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