EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board has upheld the agency’s decision to cancel Bayer’s Belt (flubendiamide) insecticide earlier this year over environmental concerns.

As a result, the product will no longer be produced. Farmers will still have access to the insecticide for a limited time, however. The decision will permit retailers to sell any remaining inventory, and farmers will be able to apply the insecticide under label specifications.

Belt was originally approved in 2008, and the EPA asked Bayer to voluntarily pull the product in April 2016. The company refused to do so and contends that its monitoring data shows that the product is safe to use.

“Since we first learned of the EPA’s actions on flubendiamide a few months ago, we have tried our best to argue on behalf of our industry and the many growers who depend on these products for sustainable pest control,” says Dana Sargent, Bayer vice president of regulatory affairs. “In the end, it is they who will be most impacted by this decision.”

http://www.agweb.com/article/epa-appeals-board-upholds-belts-cancellation-naa-sonja-begemann/