EPA is issuing a Notice of Intent to Cancel all remaining flubendiamide products manufactured by Bayer CropScience LP and Nichino America, Inc. because the companies failed to comply with a condition of registration and because the products pose risks to aquatic invertebrates that are important to the health of aquatic environments.

Flubendiamide is an insecticide registered for use on over 200 crops with some crops having as many as six applications per year. Crops treated with flubendiamide include soybeans, almonds, tobacco, peanuts, cotton, lettuce, alfalfa, tomatoes, watermelon, and bell peppers. EPA issued a time-limited registration to the companies for flubendiamide to better understand the product’s toxicity and potential impact on the aquatic environment. The terms and conditions of the registration that were understood and agreed to by the companies stated that if EPA were to make a determination of unreasonable adverse effects on the environment, the companies would, within one week of notification of this finding, submit a request for voluntary cancellation of all the flubendiamide registrations.

EPA concluded that the continued use of flubendiamide will result in unreasonable adverse effects on the environment, particularly benthic invertebrates, which are an important part of the aquatic food chain, particularly for fish. After being informed of the EPA’s finding on January 29, 2016, the companies were asked to submit a request for voluntary cancellation by Friday, February 5, 2016. The companies rejected the EPA’s request for a voluntary cancellation; therefore, EPA has initiated cancellation of all currently registered flubendiamide products for the registrant’s failure to comply with the terms of the registration.

Crops that have been properly treated with flubendiamide or that may be treated with existing stocks can still be sold legally. Provisions on what to do with existing stocks of the pesticide will be issued after the product is cancelled.

View a copy of the Notice of Intent to Cancel and all supporting documents:

• Flubendiamide – Notice of Intent to Cancel (PDF)(4 pp, 204 K, March 4, 2016)
• Decision Memo regarding findings and conclusion on environmental impacts of flubendiamide (PDF)(11 pp, 2 MB, January 29, 2016)
• Letter from EPA to Bayer CropScience LP requesting voluntary cancellation of flubendiamide products (PDF)(2 pp, 1 MB, January 29, 2016)
• Letter from Bayer CropScience LP to EPA declining request for voluntary cancellation of flubendiamide products (PDF)(3 pp, 79 K, February 5, 2016)
• Preliminary Acceptance Letter describing the terms and conditions for registration of flubendiamide (PDF)(4 pp, 483 K, July 31, 2008)
• Ecological Risk Assessment Addendum Summarizing all Submissions to Date for flubendiamide (PDF)(52 pp, 1 MB, January 28, 2016)
• Review of 3 Years of Water Monitoring Reports for flubendiamide (PDF)(25 pp, 642 K, February 20, 2015)
• Addendum to Clarify Invertebrate Terminology for flubendiamide (PDF)(5 pp, 501 K, January 29, 2016)
• Benefits Review for flubendiamide (PDF)(8 pp, 883 K, July 28, 2015)
• Ecological Risk Assessment for flubendiamide (PDF)(90 pp, 4 MB, December 16, 2010)
• Ecological Risk Assessment for flubendiamide (PDF)(167 pp, 8 MB, May 17, 2010)
• Ecological Risk Assessment for flubendiamide (PDF)(133 pp, 6 MB, June 23, 2008)