A Scientific Advisory Panel convened by EPA said the agency should not rely on a Columbia University epidemiological study to determine safe levels of exposure to chlorpyrifos, a widely used insecticide.

 

The SAP's concerns, expressed in a report submitted to EPA, echoed those expressed by pesticide manufacturers and commodity groups who said there were too many unanswered questions about the study, which used umbilical cord blood data from pregnant women to extrapolate exposure levels for children.

 

They also said using the epidemiological study would upend decades of regulatory practice that relied on animal studies to set safe tolerance levels. Indeed, it would be the first time that EPA used epidemiological data instead of looking at how a substance interfered with acetylcholinesterase, key enzyme in the nervous system, to help determine the safe level of an organophosphate pesticide.

 

EPA now must consider the report in determining how to address the regulatory status of chlorpyrifos, which was banned for residential use in 2000. Dow AgroSciences sells the product, developed by Dow Chemical, under the trade name Lorsban for crops, and Dursban for golf courses and sod.

 

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