MANA, EPA Agree To Voluntary Plan On Endosulfan
June 11, 2010 Following the EPA announcement that it is taking action to end all uses of the insecticide endosulfan in the U.S., Makhteshim Agan of North America (MANA), the manufacturer of endosulfan announced the reasons behind its voluntary participation in the plan to withdraw endosulfan over time.
"From a scientific standpoint, MANA continues to disagree fundamentally with EPA’s conclusions regarding endosulfan and believes that key uses are still eligible for re-registration," said Scott Rawlins, MANA director of global governmental and industry relations. "The Agency has made a number of overly conservative and unrealistic assumptions about how endosulfan is used that do not reflect the best available science.
"However, given the fact that the endosulfan market is quite small and the cost of developing and submitting additional data high, we have decided to voluntarily negotiate an agreement with EPA that provides growers with an adequate time frame to find alternatives for the damaging insect pests currently controlled by endosulfan," Rawlins said.
MANA and EPA are currently working on details of a plan which will phase out the use of endosulfan over time while giving growers options for moving toward other pest control practices.
Endosulfan was first registered in the 1950s. MANA is the exclusive marketer of two formulations of endosulfan under the brand names Thionex 3EC and Thionex 50W and is used to control insect pests on vegetable, fruit, and cotton crops.
Details of the final timetable for Thionex will be announced to producer organizations and agricultural product retailers in the coming weeks.
Source: MANA news release