The German pharmaceutical and chemical company, Bayer, recently declined when the EPA requested that the company pull the pesticide flubendiamide off of shelves. The EPA conditionally approved flubendiamide — used against worms, moths, and beetles — in 2008, with the condition being that Bayer prove within five years that flubendiamide was safe for aquatic invertebrates, such as water cleansing filter feeders like freshwater mussels.
Seven years later, Bayer hasn’t offered any such evidence, but insists that the product is harmless, reports Modern Farmer. One survey of studies found that the pesticide is extremely poisonous to at least two types of invertebrates. Other studies have offered less conclusive warnings.
The system of conditional registration allows companies like Bayer to legally defy the EPA, which in turn must undergo a “Special Review Process” to reconsider a contested product in more detail. This second examination can take years. “By saying no, Bayer gets another layer of reviews, gets to keep selling a profitable product, and puts the onus of proving the product is unsafe on the EPA, rather than proving to the EPA that it is safe,” says Modern Farmer.