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The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a notice of intent to cancel registrations for all Bayer CropScience and Nichino America products that contain the active ingredient, flubendiamide. The EPA says it is doing so because of adverse risks to aquatic invertebrates.
Bayer markets the AI as Belt 480SC Insecticide, whereas Nichino uses it as part of the Vertica premix for vegetables.
Among the more than 200 crops on which Belt is registered are soybeans, sorghum, cotton, peanuts and corn. It controls a broad array of worm pests.
The EPA’s latest move comes after it had asked Bayer to stop selling the product by Feb. 5. In a press release, Bayer said it refused the request and instead sought a review of the product’s registration in an administrative law hearing.
Bayer said it believed the methods EPA used exaggerated environmental risk.
In a written notice, the EPA said it had issued a time-limited registration with the understanding that if tests showed unreasonable environmental effects, the registrants would voluntary cancel all uses within one week of notification.
Crops treated with flubendiamide according to label are still legal to be sold, and existing stocks of the product still may be sold legally, according to the EPA notice.