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PA EPA ANNOUNCES IT WON’T EXTEND TOLERANCES FOR USE OF BROMOXYNIL ON COTTON
Release Date: 01/09/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 1998
EPA ANNOUNCES IT WON’T EXTEND TOLERANCES FOR USE OF BROMOXYNIL ON COTTON
EPA has determined that it cannot grant a request to extend tolerances (allowable residue levels) for the herbicide bromoxynil to continue its use on cotton crops. Specifically, the Agency is not extending tolerances for bromoxynil and its metabolite, 3,5-dibromo-4-hydroxybenzonitrile (DBHA) on cotton commodities. Previous time-limited tolerances and the registration for permitting the use of bromoxynil on cotton expired Jan. 1, 1998. When establishing tolerances under provisions of the Food Quality Protection Act, EPA is required to ensure that there is a reasonable certainty of no harm based on the aggregate dietary risk of all registered uses for that pesticide. After re-examining its data, EPA decided that it could not extend the tolerances for bromoxynil due to serious conerns about the developmental risks it poses to infants and children. Other concerns raised in the Agency’s review of bromoxynil include studies showing that bromoxynil also causes cancer in laboratory animals. The first tolerance permitting the use of bromoxynil on cotton crops was issued for an experimental use in 1995. At that time a “transgenic” cotton plant -- or a biogenetically engineered plant -- was developed specifically for use with the herbicide bromoxynil. The new transgenic cotton was designed to resist the effects of bromoxynil, which could then be applied to control and kill weeds throughout the cotton growing season. In June 1997 EPA issued a new set of time limited tolerances for bromoxynil and restricted the use of the herbicide to 400,000 acres or about three percent of the cotton acreage. Restrictions placed on the application and tolerances for bromoxynil last June were based on the need to allow for new data and analysis to be submitted and reviewed regarding the
risks posed by bromoxynil. In September 1997 RhonePoulenc Ag. Co., Research Triangle Park, N.C., the registrant and manufacturer of bromoxynil, submitted a petition requesting that EPA renew the tolerance for cotton and allow its application on up to ten percent of the cotton acreage. In addition to its review of RhonePoulenc’s petition the Agency is currently reviewing additional information provided by RhonePoulenc and preparing a Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED). The RED will address other uses of bromoxynil and assist in developing further exposure refinements and identifying additional measures that can be taken to reduce risks. In addition to cotton, bromoxynil is applied to about a dozen other food and animal feed crops. EPA expects to issue its RED in 1998.
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