An EPA official appeared to welcome the opportunity to re-evaluate three contentious scientific assessments on pesticides that harm rare species, saying the agency wanted more time to finish the evaluations before fully considering outside recommendations.

 

Anita Pease, the agency’s acting associate director for the Office of Pesticide Programs’ Biological and Economic Analysis Division, said May 3 that the agency is considering revising the biological evaluations on chlorpyrifos, malathion and dianazon. Reports found that nearly all threatened or endangered species would be affected by two of the three insecticides.

 

Manufacturers of the pesticides—Dow Agrosciences LLC, Makhteshim Agan of North America (ADAMA) and FMC Corp.—have encouraged the Environmental Protection Agency to roll back the evaluations, as has the pesticide trade group CropLife America and other pesticide makers. The manufacturers criticized the EPA’s scientific approach to assessing the risk to species, saying the agency did not follow guidelines in a 2013 National Academies of Science report on the issue.

 

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