EPA Provides 6 Updates On Chlorpyrifos

On November 2, 2023 the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals' released its decision to vacate the EPA 2021 final rule effectively prohibiting the use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos. 

This week EPA gave an update and detailed the agency’s next steps. Per the EPA: 

1. Upon issuance of the Eighth Circuit's mandate (which has not occurred as of the date of this update), all chlorpyrifos tolerances would automatically be in effect once again. In conformance with the Eighth Circuit's ruling and after issuance of the mandate, EPA intends to issue a notice correcting the Code of Federal Regulations to reflect the court's reinstatement of chlorpyrifos tolerances.
2. The Eighth Circuit's decision stated that EPA should have considered modification of tolerances in addition to complete revocation and noted that the Agency had "identified 11 specific candidates" of food and feed crop uses whose tolerances could be so modified in a Preliminary Interim Decision EPA issued in 2020. Consequently, the Agency expects to expeditiously propose a new rule to revoke the tolerances associated with all but the 11 uses referenced by the court. These uses may be found in the December 2020 Chlorpyrifos Proposed Interim Decision. Prior to the 2021 tolerance revocation, these uses represented about 55% of the total chlorpyrifos usage (average pounds applied) on agricultural commodities between 2014-2018.
3. EPA is also engaged in discussions with the registrants to further reduce exposures associated with the 11 uses of chlorpyrifos that were referenced by the Eighth Circuit, a process that will also include taking into account the 2020 draft document and public comments received thereto. This approach would allow use on alfalfa, apple, asparagus, cherry (tart), citrus, cotton, peach, soybean, strawberry, sugar beet, wheat (spring), and wheat (winter) with potential additional restrictions for geographic location, rate of application, farmworker and other vulnerable populations, and vulnerable species and their habitats that may be needed to address safety of the tolerances.
4. Chlorpyrifos is currently under registration review and the Agency continues to work to implement the National Marine Fisheries Service's 2022 Biological Opinion on chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion. EPA will continue to work to protect farmworkers, endangered species and their habitats, and the nation's most vulnerable populations (including children) through its ongoing registration review and Endangered Species Act processes for chlorpyrifos uses.
5. At this time, final cancelation orders, including their terms for existing stocks of products subject to those cancelation orders and related return programs for chlorpyrifos products, remain in place, unless and until amended by EPA.
6. EPA will continue to keep the public updated as it evaluates and takes any actions related to chlorpyrifos pesticide use.