The latest developments in the prohibition and restriction of pesticides in the United States involve a number of heavy products

The European Union, the United States, and Brazil are some of the largest markets
in the world in terms of pesticide sales.

Among them, the European and American markets belong to the high-end market, the registration requirements are high, the difficulty is large, and the prohibition and restriction of European and American products has always been regarded as a vane
.
In Brazil, the pesticide market has grown rapidly in recent years, and the market volume has jumped to the first place in the
world.

This article will focus on the situation of pesticide prohibition and restriction in the United States in recent years, so as to provide some ideas and enlightenment
for the expansion of the Brazilian market and other overseas markets.

1.
Pesticide prohibition and restriction in the United States

The United States covers an area of about 9.
37 million square kilometers and consists of
51 states.
The agricultural population accounts for about 2% of the total population, and agricultural exports account for about 20% of the world's total
.
The main crops are corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and so on
.

At the end of June this year, the U.
S.
Department of Agriculture just released the 2021-2022 planting area of these crops in the United States, with corn ranking first, soybeans slightly lower than corn, wheat and cotton respectively
.

(Image source: USDA)

In terms of pesticide use, the most commonly used pesticide product category is herbicides, followed by fungicides and insecticides
.

In the case of corn cultivation, for example, Lycaine is the most commonly used herbicide, used in the cultivation of about 65% of corn, along with nitrosulfonone, glyphosate, acetylamine and fine isopropylmethanamine
.
Glycine and acetochloride, as well as insecticides such as neonicotinoids, chlorpyrifos, chlorpyrifos, etc.
, these active substances that have been banned in many countries such as the European Union, are still widely used
in the United States.

In general, the United States rarely bans a pesticide product
.

Generally approved products are in the database of registered products, only the time of approval, there is no time for registration to
expire.
As long as the company fulfills its due regulatory obligations, such as submitting annual reports on time, paying annual fees, and receiving a re-reviewed DCI (Data Call-in) response, the product registration will remain valid
.
Among them, the only time that may lead to the banning of substances is at this stage of
substance re-review.

2.
Approval status of active substances

The following are some of the active substances approved in the United States in recent years
.

(1) Enemy grass rope

Looking at this year's EPA (U.
S.
Environmental Protection Agency) re-review, it can be seen that the closest substance to the ban on substances is DCPA (dichlorpyrifos).

(Image from: U.
S.
EPA)

According to an announcement issued by the EPA at the end of April this year, the EPA plans to suspend the sale and use of the original drug after 30 days, that is, at the end of May
.
The reason is that during the EPA re-review process, the sole registrant of the United States, Pioneer Corporation, did not submit all the supplementary data
of the enemy grass to the EPA for 9 years.

As early as 2013, the EPA issued a data demand DCI for the enemy grass cord, although the pioneer company provided a lot of data and exemption applications during the period, but because the data information is not sufficient, the EPA is still unable to complete the risk assessment of such products, and during the period also wasted a lot of EPA manpower and material resources, so the EPA proposed to suspend the sale and use
of the original drug of the enemy grass cord.

Although the sale and use of the original drug was only suspended, the preparation could not be formulated after that, which was equivalent to an indirect suspension of all products
of this substance.
However, the use of the dichosus is only suspended rather than banned, and the EPA announcement also states that as long as the applicant can submit sufficient information in the future, they will revoke the suspension order
.

In the case of the applicant's failure to provide sufficient information, after this 9-year tug-of-war, the enemy grass rope has not been banned, which shows the attitude of the United States to the material ban
.

(2) neonicotinoid insecticides

On June 16 this year, the U.
S.
EPA released a final biological assessment of three neonicotinoid insecticides, thiamethacin, imidacloprid and thiamide, finding that these widely used pesticides may adversely affect
nearly three-quarters of endangered species.

(Image from: U.
S.
EPA)

This result shows that neonicotinoid insecticides are not only harmful to bees and other insects, but also harmful to the vast majority of endangered species, including all amphibians, most of the already endangered fish, birds and mammals, as well as pollinators and their pollinators
.

In 2020, the EPA issued an interim resolution on the re-review of these substances and proposed some risk reduction measures, such as controlling the annual dosage, limiting the duration of medication, reducing spray drift, etc.
In view of the risk assessment of endangered species, the EPA plans to update the risk reduction measures proposed in the 2020 re-review interim resolution in 2023 to reduce exposure
to neonicotinoids.

(3) Oga goes to Tsu

It is one
of the most banned substances in the world.
But this substance, also one of the most commonly used herbicides in the United States, is widely used
in both agricultural and non-agricultural fields.

(Image from: U.
S.
EPA)

The use of this substance has also been controversial in the United States, and the EPA's environmental wind assessment has not been fully recognized by
the public.
At the end of June this year, the EPA issued a revision announcement for the interim resolution of the re-review of the 2020 re-examination, because the material hazards cannot be modified, so the EPA's efforts are focused on risk reduction measures, that is, it is hoped to reduce the exposure to the use of the Zotatsu by increasing the risk reduction measures, so as to achieve the purpose of
risk control.

(4) Chlorpyrifos

As early as when Obama was in power, it was proposed to ban chlorpyrifos, after Trump took office, the emphasis on the economy over environmental protection, the EPA overturned the previous decision, so far the poisoning of ticks has not been completely banned
.

(Image from: U.
S.
EPA)

On February 25, 2022, the U.
S.
EPA rejected all objections to the elimination of the maximum residue limits available for chlorpyrifos in food, a move that heralded a complete ban on all food uses
associated with chlorpyrifos.

(5) Enemy grass rumbling

Also this year, the U.
S.
EPA officially issued an interim resolution
on the re-review of the enemy grass dragon.

(Image from: U.
S.
EPA)

In this resolution, the U.
S.
EPA has largely determined based on the available assessment data that it will further limit the scope of use of the enemy grass rhombus, in particular the use of this widely popular herbicide in food and feed crops, which indicates that the use of chlorpyrifos related food will be banned
in the future.

In recent years, the most influential impact on the prohibition and restriction of U.
S.
products is the Endangered Animal Protection Act (ESA
).
Under the FIFRA Regulations of the U.
S.
Pesticide Basic Law, EPA is obligated to conduct an endangered species risk assessment under the ESA when registering pesticides in the
United States.

But in past history, the EPA's fulfillment rate was less than 5 percent, which has led to dozens of lawsuits filed by the EPA in recent years, which makes the EPA inefficient and brings a lot of unnecessary expenses
.

This year, the EPA finally released the first-ever comprehensive endangered species assessment workplan, which describes four strategies and dozens of actions to address decades of challenges
in protecting endangered species from pesticides.

Given the sheer volume of work in this area, the EPA prioritizes risk assessment of endangered species
.
The highest priority is the new conventional pesticide active substance, which means that the next registration of new pesticide active substances in the United States will be subject to endangered species risk assessment; This was followed by some of the conventional pesticide active substances in the re-review, mainly including chemically synthesized field pesticides and sanitary pesticides, and the priority of antibacterial pesticides and biopesticides ranked last
.

The United States is a completely risk-oriented country, and generally as long as the risk assessment can be passed, a product can continue to be used; If the risk assessment is not passed, the product will not be banned immediately, and the U.
S.
EPA will find ways to increase risk mitigation measures
.

As long as the measures are appropriate, under various restrictions, by reducing the exposure to use, the risk assessment of a product can pass, then the product can continue to be used
.
If it still does not work, then some uses, such as food uses with greater risks, and non-food uses can still be retained and used
.
In addition, in rare cases, the EPA can take measures such as setting an approval validity period
for some high-risk products.

This difference between the EU and the United States has led to the current status quo, the EU continues to ban harmful active substances, and the United States is trying to retain harmful active substances
.