The U.S. Environmental Protection agency has announced it has extended the registration for dicamba herbicides for use in Roundup Ready Xtend crops for an additional two years.
In a news release, EPA stated that the action considered input and collaboration between EPA state regulators, farmers, academic researchers, pesticide manufacturers and other stakeholders.
"EPA understands that dicamba is a valuable pest control tool for America's farmers," said EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler. "By extending the registration for another two years with important new label updates that place additional restrictions on the product, we are providing certainty to all stakeholders for the upcoming growing season."
LABEL HISTORY
EPA initially put a two-year time limit on the registration of the new, lower-volatility dicamba formulations when they were registered in 2016. Those labels were due to begin expiring in November.
In news releases at the original time of registration, EPA stated the two-year conditional registrations would allow the agency to: "... either let it expire or to easily make the necessary changes in the registration if there are problems with resistant weeds or pesticide drift." At that time the agency also stated: "Nevertheless, herbicide resistance is adequately addressed by the terms of the registration, and the Agency does not expect off-site incidents to occur."
In Wednesday's release, EPA further stated that it had "reviewed substantial amounts of new information and concluded that the continued registration of these dicamba products meets FIFRA's registration standards. The Agency has also determined that extending these registrations with the new safety measures will not affect endangered species."
