Tell the EPA to ban acephate by 11:59pm TONIGHT! >>

Toxic chemicals linked to neurological damage are being used on our foods. Children are especially vulnerable to these toxic effects – yet the pesticide acephate is still legal.

The EPA’s proposal to ban acephate won’t just protect people. It will also help bees that are suffering from a population crisis. Wild pollinators are seeing rapid declines, which impacts our entire food system. That’s why we need your help.

Comments

Dear Administrator Regan,

I was pleased to see that the EPA released a proposed interim decision (PID) to cancel all but one use of the pesticide acephate. I agree with your analysis that the risks of acephate products are unacceptable. The ban, as proposed, is the best way to mitigate possible injuries to farmworkers AND to prevent dietary risks to humans through exposure via food and water. Similarly, removal of these pesticide product registrations will prevent further ecological collateral damage to non-target organisms like pollinators.

I support a ban that removes all uses other than tree injections for forestry and non-food production trees. While I recognize that you are accepting public comment from all concerned individuals, I ask that you not give greater weight to commercial interests that might seek to suggest other mitigation strategies that would allow further exceptions for use of acephate products.

Instead, I believe it would be best to encourage producers to voluntarily revoke their registrations entirely to accelerate the removal of these products from use in the U.S. If all else fails, EPA should follow through with involuntary cancellation, rather than run the risk that further damage will be done to human health and the environment via unsuccessful alternative mitigation strategies.

This decision is based on EPA's updated human health draft risk assessment (HH DRA) and drinking water assessment (DWA) that were released last year, which showed significant dietary risks from drinking water for currently registered uses of acephate. EPA also identified worker, homeowner, and ecological risks that would be mitigated by the proposed cancellations.

As you know, acephate is an organophosphate (OP) pesticide that is registered for both agricultural uses, such as cotton and soybean, and non-agricultural uses, such as tree injections for forestry and ant mound treatment around homes. Acephate interacts with the nervous system by inhibiting the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme. This process makes the pesticide effective against insects, but it can also occur in mammals, including humans, depending on the level of acephate exposure. At high levels of OP exposures, AChE inhibition can lead to neurological effects such as tremors, fatigue, and nausea. AChE inhibition has been found to be the most sensitive human health effect for evaluating exposures to acephate.

Once again, I am pleased that you have brought this proposal forward and I look forward to similar proposals for other dangerous organophosphate pesticides such as chlorpyrifos. The damage caused by these products is already significant and it is time for us to address the problem.

Sincerely,

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