US bans pesticide that's used in Australia

ABC Rural - Australia

Wednesday, 06/08/2008

The US Environmental Protection Agency says it will ban the pesticide, carbofuran, at home and in imports, and make sure any farmer who uses it cannot sell the crop into the United States.

Carbofuran is available in Australia to combat roundworms and leaf-chewing insects in the banana, sugarcane, grains and garlic industries.

Conservationists say the chemical has killed two million birds, and EPA spokesman, Dale Kemery, says the latest scientific data shows carbofuran poses a serious health risk to young children.

"The United States Environmental Protection Agency has decided to revoke all food uses of cabofuran, which means that there can be no foodstuffs in the United States in them, and that includes imported food," he says.

"It was felt that carbofuran represented a threat to both people and the environment."

But Paul Gassick, from FMC, which distributes the chemical in Australia, says the US EPA's decision is unreasonable.

"This is something that has taken FMC by suprirse, because the understanding was that the tolerances for carbofuran on all the commodities in the US would remain," he says.

"We know that the USDA is not in favour of that proposal.

"Carbofuran generally does not cause residues in edible commodities when it's used the way it's supposed to be."

Here in Australia, there are no immediate plans to ban the use of carbofuran by farmers.

But local farmers say the US EPA's decision is probably the start of things to come, making it increasingly difficult for producers to get the chemicals they need to increase yields.

abc.net.au