Registration in the United States
Carbofuran (Furadan) is registered in the United States for use on corn, pine seedlings, potatoes, pumpkins, spinach grown for seed, and sunflowers. Carbofuran was first registered in the United States in 1969 and is available in granular and liquid formulations. In 1991, the USEPA and FMC agreed to phase down and limit the use of granular formulations (2,500 lbs active ingredient annually) to minimize risk to birds. There have been no confirmed reports of bird mortality from labeled uses of carbofuran since 2000.
Carbofuran use in the United States has declined over the past 40 years as new products have entered the market and currently is used as a niche product on a limited number of crops where there are no suitable alternatives.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) continues to evaluate the re-registration eligibility of carbofuran.
- (September 2007) The USEPA determined that all uses of carbofuran do not meet the standard for continued registration due to ecological and occupational risks of concern and dietary risks of concern from some crops. However, the Agency noted that import tolerances for bananas, coffee, rice, and sugarcane met the standard for acceptable dietary risk. Also, a four year phase out period was decided upon for several uses. These uses do not pose dietary risks of concern and do have benefits to growers.
- (January 2008) The USEPA issued a draft Notice of Intent to Cancel All Registrations for Pesticide Products Containing Carbofuran. The USEPA is currently evaluating scientific and benefits comments from FMC, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Scientific Advisory Panel, and the USDA.
- (July 2008) The USEPA proposes to revoke all carbofuran crop tolerances. The USEPA is currently evaluating scientific comments from FMC, as well as several commodity and trade organizations, demonstrating that a group of crop tolerances meets the safety standard.
- (March 2009) FMC's voluntary cancellation of most carbofuran uses is approved by the USEPA. The remaining registered uses are corn, pine seedlings, potatoes, pumpkins, spinach grown for seed, and sunflowers.
- (May 2009) US EPA published a final tolerance revocation; all crop tolerances including import tolerances are revoked as of 12/31/09
- (June 2009) FMC filed objections and requested an administrative hearing to challenge EPA’s decision to revoke all carbofuran tolerances. FMC will look to an administrative law judge to evaluate the merits of the science. It is FMC’s position that carbofuran has acceptable dietary risk even using EPA’s own ultra-conservative assumptions such as a 400-fold safety factor and taking into account all sources of drinking water exposure.
Registration Canada
- (May 2009) PMRA provided FMC the draft Proposed Re-evaluation Decision Document for Carbofuran and requested error corrections prior to the public comment period.
- (June 2009) FMC responded to PMRA with error corrections on the draft Proposed Re-evaluation Decision Document for Carbofuran.
- (Next step) PMRA will issue the draft Proposed Re-evaluation Decision Document for Carbofuran for public comment. Publication timing is unknown.
Registration in the European Union
On July 13, 2007 the European Commission issued its decision not to include carbofuran in Annex I to Directive 91/414/EEC. A number of concerns had been identified late in the review process and consequently certain risk assessments could not be concluded. The manufacturer had submitted the additional data two years before the decision, but these were not reviewed because they were submitted after the legal deadline.
The Commission stated that the decision did not prejudice the submission of a new application for registration which the notifier did in April 2008. The new application is under review and we anticipate registration in 2010.