The Nation : Fungicide Ban Proposed

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a ban on using the fungicide Captan on food, five years after it began considering the idea, because the chemical produces tumors in mice and rats. Captan residues on food “may pose an unreasonable risk to public health” if consumed over a lifetime, the agency said. Captan, made principally by Chevron Chemical Co. and Stauffer Chemical Co., is used on apples, peaches, almonds and strawberries and is used to treat corn and soybean seeds and soil before planting. It also is used in paints, wallpaper paste, paper, textiles, shampoos and animal dusts, the EPA said.