EPA: No More Exemptions for Carcinogenic "Delaney" Pesticides
May 25, 1993
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced
in early May that it will no longer allow emergency exemptions
for pesticides that violate the Delaney Clause, which prohibits
cancer-causing pesticides and additives in processed foods. This
new policy is the first significant step toward implementation of
the July 1992 Ninth Circuit court decision in Les v. Reilly,
which upheld a strict interpretation of the Delaney Clause. The
court ruled that EPA has no discretion to establish pesticide
tolerances that allow residues in processed foods at levels
greater than in raw foods if the pesticide has been shown to
induce cancer in animals, no matter how small the risk. (See
PANUPS, February 23, 1993.)
The new EPA policy led to the immediate revocation of
five emergency exemptions, for cyromazine on potatoes and
tomatoes, fosetyl-al on hops, iprodione on apples, and
triadimefon on tomatoes. EPA also announced that emergency
exemption requests already received for acephate, bifenthrin,
cyromazine, bromoxynil, fosetyl-al, iprodione, pendamethalin, and
permethrin would be denied. All these pesticides remain
registered for other uses. Under the new policy, EPA will not
grant emergency exemptions if, based on current data, it is
likely the pesticide would meet the Delaney clause standard of
inducing cancer in animals.
Under Section 18 of the the Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), EPA is authorized to
grant limited emergency use exemptions for pesticides that have
not met its requirements for registration, or for which
tolerances have not been set in foods, if there is an "urgent,
non-routine situation that requires the use of a pesticide(s)." A
1991 Government Accounting Office (GAO) report charged that the
granting of numerous repeat exemptions under Section 18 provides
for potential abuse of the program. (See Pesticides: EPAUs Repeat
Emergency ExemptionUs May Provide Potential for Abuse, July 23,
1991, GAO/T-RCED-91-83.)
In making the announcement, EPA Administrator Carol
Browner stated that the new policy "highlights the need for new
legislation that addresses food safety." She also reinforced
previous statements that the carcinogenic pesticides at issue
"pose only a negligible risk to public health." However, the
National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (NCAMP)
counters that a negligible risk standard is not protective of
public health because of uncertainties in risk assessment, and
because of its failure to protect sensitive populations and
consider the reality of multiple exposure to carcinogens. NCAMP
advocates phasing out cancer-causing pesticides.
Source: NCAMP's Technical Report, May 1993.
For a copy of EPA's May 7 announcement and related documents,
contact Margie Fehrenbach (H7506C), Communications Branch,
EPA, 401 M St. SW, Washington D.C. 20460; phone (703) 305-
5017.
Contacts: Jay Feldman, NCAMP, 701 E St. SE, Washington, D.C.
20003; phone (202) 543-5450; fax (202) 543-4791; Internet e-mail:
ncamp@igc.apc.org.
Al Meyerhoff, Natural Resources Defense
Council, 71 Stevenson, Suite 1825; San Francisco, CA 94105; phone
(415) 777-0220; fax (415) 495-5996; Internet e-mail:
nrdccalif@igc.apc.org.
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