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EPA Extends Comment Period For Malathion

Christina Herrick Posted by Christina Herrick|November 21, 2016

EPA is making a draft malathion human health risk assessment available. For this draft risk assessment, EPA considered exposures from all sources, including food, drinking water, and insect sprays.  In addition, EPA considered all populations including infants, children, and women of child-bearing age.

The public comment period for the draft human health risk assessment will be open until Dec. 21.

Malathion is an organophosphate insecticide and is used in USDA’s Fruit Fly (Medfly) Control Program, for control against spotted wing drosophila, and by mosquito control districts around the U.S. for mosquito-borne disease control. Less than 1% of spraying for mosquitoes is malathion aerial spray.

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Christina Herrick is former Editor of American Fruit Grower magazine and Western Fruit Grower magazine, published by Meister Media Worldwide. See all author stories here.

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Avatar for John Rittle John Rittle says:
November 21, 2016 at 11:31 am

I am a small PYO blueberry and home produce grower and depend on Malathion as an insect control for various crops. it fits in my spraying program well as a knockdown in collaboration with other chemistries and modes of action. Especially
against SWD. It can be sprayed after sunset to avoid pollinators visiting neighboring wild areas and still be effective for 1 – 5 days.
I do believe , because of how long it has been around, and its toxicity to pollinators it should be required to be mixed with another mode of action for the pest being targeted and restricted to late day or evening application where pollinators are present.

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Avatar for Bill Roe Bill Roe says:
November 23, 2016 at 9:38 am

Malathion is a critical tool for the control of SWF, but additionally for many other winged pests which need to be controlled across a broad range of other crops which require a pesiticide with a very short pre-harvest interval. Time has proven that this pesticide is extraordinarily safe and effective and for many farmers it is a critical tool to be used in a rotation with the few other short PHI chemicals available to the farmer. EPA, don’t mess with this chemical!!!!!

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Avatar for jeff jeff says:
November 24, 2016 at 11:47 am

We’ve used this product for years on our farm with no ill effects that i know of. They used to spray up and down our streets when we were kids for mosquitoes.My concern is that there are people out there that are afraid of many things that really we need and they want to get rid of everything and its maddening. with new invasive pests coming into our country we’ll have nothing to combat them and the result (zika) can be sadly much worse. please use science. Most people i talked to wonder how we ever made it this far with life expectancy increasing. Most people living longer lived through all this. Also many of the people stirring up this have no knowledge at all on the subject. I know because as a farmer you get to meet them. Also they have no alternatives, scary. blind leading the blind.

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