The pesticide flubendiamide has recently been making headlines thanks to a battle between the Environmental Protection Agency and the pesticide company Bayer CropScience LP. The two organizations squared off this week and caused several crop farmers and environmentalists to begin discussing this pesticide.
On March 1, the EPA issued a Notice of Intent to Bayer to inform them that they were cancelling sales for any product that contained flubendiamide. The organization had been observing the effects of the chemical for a few years, and it realized that it was having a harmful affect on the environment. More specifically, the product was breaking down into a harmful chemical that was killing off sea life such as mussels, which fish use as a source of food. Of course, once the food chain was being considerably affected, the EPA decided to take action on this product.
This move was considered bold by many, as the pesticide is one that has a conditional registration. In the world of chemicals, this term essentially means that some companies get to forgo safety testing of their product and put it on the market. Flubendiamide isn't the only pesticide that has been given this pardon. It turns out, the EPA has labeled several products as having conditional registrations, and naturally this could be dangerous for the market. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, in 2013 the EPA issued conditional registrations to 65 percent of more than 16,000 pesticides that were released to the market that year.
Why was this loophole created in the first place?
Conditional registrations were initially instituted by the EPA to help farmers and crop growers use pesticides freely to help protect their crops. When certain pesticides forgo the safety testing process, which can take several months, farmers can quickly and effectively spray their crops and avoid having certain insects and other pests come and destroy their bounty. These registrations have particularly been applied to chemicals used on fruits, vegetables and nuts. Currently, flubendiamide is one chemical that is heavily relied on by farmers to keep away destructive pests.
Normally, if farmers and crop growers believe it is safe to use and not harmful to their health, the EPA will allow it to continually be used anywhere in the nation. However, once these chemicals are given the thumbs up, the EPA doesn't keep an eye on them, and that can be dangerous. When this happens, the EPA might be letting a few too many chemicals through, or not monitoring the effects of some that have been on the market for a while.
"The EPA has no way of tracking these conditional registrations," noted Nathan Donley, an expert on pesticide regulations and a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. "During the normal regulatory process, the public can review docs and comment. But in conditional registration, it all happens backdoor; the public doesn't get to see."
He went on to say that right now, the market is filled with chemicals that haven't been tested for safety protocol, and believes the EPA needs to change their ways so the market doesn't get out of hand.
Avoiding the rules
While the EPA issued this notice to Bayer, the company has refused to pull its products from shelves and argued that the pesticide was safe to use. Bayer wants to instead bring the case to court and plans to review the chemical's registration. Of course, the two parties are in a full-blown standoff that could take several years, and plenty of money, to resolve. In the meantime, the chemical continues to be in dangerous runoff that has harmed different ecosystems.
Flubendiamide was first issued by the EPA in 2008. It can help kill off insects including fruitworms, cutworms, diamondback moths, bollworms, armyworms and so on. Currently farmers have the right to spray the pesticide aerially or on the ground at least three to five times each season.
