On February 25, 2022, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) rejected all opinions opposing the cancellation of the current maximum residue limit for chlorpyrifos (Chlorpyrifos) in food, and will cancel the registration of all products containing chlorpyrifos for food use. Afterwards, the US EPA issued a letter to the registrants of chlorpyrifos products with food uses, requesting the registrants to choose to delete food-related uses from the product label or voluntarily cancel products with only food uses.
As of April 28, 2022, the U.S. EPA has received a total of 6 companies voluntarily canceling 16 products containing chlorpyrifos for food use (see the table below for specific product information), and these registration certificates will officially expire on August 31, 2022. The sale, distribution and use of the products will also be prohibited.
Since 1965, chlorpyrifos has been widely used as an insecticide in agricultural and non-agricultural fields.
Chlorpyrifos is widely used in more than 60 crops such as corn, sugar beet, soybean, onion, apple, peach, orange, etc., and chlorpyrifos is the most effective product for reducing pest pressure on 11 crops including sugar beet. For example, spraying peach and cherry tree trunks with chlorpyrifos before fruit emergence is effective against smaller borers.
At the same time, chlorpyrifos is also the most effective pesticide against beetroot maggots and flies. In soybean production, chlorpyrifos can be used to control spotted spider mites and most aphids that are resistant to other insecticides such as pyrethroids.
Although chlorpyrifos has been reviewed many times since its registration, the annual consumption of chlorpyrifos in the United States is still very large. With the prohibition of chlorpyrifos food products, there is an urgent need for pesticide products that can replace chlorpyrifos in the market. For this, relevant companies need to arrange chlorpyrifos substitute products in advance.
