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Pesticide News Story: Aldicarb Ecological Risk Assessment Available for Comment
For Release: June 22, 2005
On June 22, 2005, EPA announced in the Federal Register the availability of the Agency’s ecological risk assessment and related documents for the carbamate pesticide aldicarb. EPA is issuing these documents for public comment as part of the Agency’s process to involve the public in developing pesticide reregistration and tolerance reassessment decisions. The Agency is interested in receiving comments and input to further refine its ecological risk assessment for aldicarb. Comments must be received by August 22, 2005. EPA expects to issue a separate aldicarb human health risk assessment for comment later in summer 2005.
EPA found that estimated acute exposures based on both average and maximum application rates from aldicarb use on all crops assessed exceed levels of concern for endangered species and non-listed terrestrial organisms. Aldicarb shows very high acute oral toxicity to birds. Though terrestrial and aquatic plants are not affected, aldicarb is considered highly toxic to insects, including honey bees, and to earthworms. Aldicarb is also highly to very highly toxic to many freshwater, estuarine, and marine fish and invertebrates. The Agency has begun informal consultations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to address risks to threatened and endangered species caused by aldicarb use.
Aldicarb is a restricted use systemic insecticide, acaricide, and nematicide. It is registered for use on citrus, cotton, dry beans, grain sorghum, peanuts, pecans, potatoes, soybeans, sugar beets, sugarcane, sweet potatoes, seed alfalfa, field grown ornamentals, and tobacco, as well as coffee and yams grown in Puerto Rico. Aldicarb is a member of the N-methyl carbamate class of pesticides, all of which share a common mechanism of toxicity (cholinesterase inhibition). EPA will evaluate the cumulative risk posed by this group of pesticides before making final reregistration eligibility decisions on individual N-methyl carbamates, such as aldicarb.
he aldicarb ecological risk assessment and supporting documents are posted on the Federal Docket Management System at www.regulations.gov under docket number OPP-2005-0163. EPA's aldicarb Web page is available at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/status.htm. For additional information on this and other pesticide issues, see EPA’s Pesticide Program Web site at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/.