Pesticide Carbofuran Banned For Food Crops

Even though the manufacturer said it would cut back its U.S. use of carbofuran to a smaller number of crops, the EPA said the chemical still poses "an unacceptable dietary risk, especially to children, from consuming a combination of food and water with carbofuran residues."

The ban goes into effect at the end of the year.

In a fact sheet, EPA says carbofuran "can overstimulate the nervous system, causing nausea, dizziness, confusion and, at very high exposures, respiratory paralysis and death."

The chemical gained some notoriety recently when it was reported that herdsmen in East Africa were using the chemical to poison lions. Officials at FMC Corp. denounced the practice and said they were taking "aggressive action" to stop shipments to Uganda and Tanzania and were beginning a buy-back program in Kenya.

The American Bird Conservancy praised the EPA on Monday for acting to halt the use of the chemical in the United States.

Michael Fry, director of the group's pesticide monitoring program, said that while the granular form of the chemical, largely ended in the mid-1990s, was especially devastating to bird populations, "we know the liquid form has been killing birds, not as many as the granular form, but still in significant numbers."