Firm Halts Sale of Chlordane to Test for Safety
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that the manufacturer of chlordane, a widely used termite-killer that has caused cancer in laboratory animals, is halting further sales to distributors while it conducts tests to determine if the product can be used safely.
“We think we have an agreement that accomplishes what needs to be done,” said John Moore, who heads the EPA’s pesticide division. “This will immediately shut off the pipeline for chlordane use in this country.”
However, environmentalists blasted the action, charging that it will not affect massive supplies of the pesticide in stores across the nation or owned by termite control companies--an inventory that could last two months or longer, EPA officials said.
‘Not Protecting the Public’
“I’d like to know what the EPA has to say to people who buy this product in the next few months and are irreparably harmed,” said Jay Feldman, who heads the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides. “Clearly, the EPA is not protecting the public.”
Under its agreement with the agency, Velsicol Inc., the sole manufacturer of chlordane, will not be permitted to resume sales until further tests show that the product can be safely applied in homes without producing indoor vapors that may cause cancer.
Moore said the EPA did not use its power to immediately halt all sales of the product because federal officials have not compiled sufficient information to determine whether there is an “imminent risk” to public health from the pesticide.
He said the federal law requiring the EPA to reimburse a pesticide firm for the full cost of its inventory in the event of a ban--a charge that could run as high as $50 million in the chlordane case--had no bearing on the agency’s action.
The controversy over chlordane, which was introduced in 1948, surfaced in the early 1970s when tests by the EPA and other scientists found that exposure to the product caused tumors, liver disease and neurological damage in laboratory animals. At the time, the product was used to kill insects on crops as well as to kill termites.
Federal officials banned agricultural uses of chlordane, but continued to believe that there were no health threats from its use in homes. Subsequent laboratory tests, however, showed that significant traces of the product could be detected in homes years after it was applied. EPA scientists also found that the cancer risk from exposure to chlordane vapors in a home could be as great as three cases per thousand.
The colorless pesticide, which has been used in more than 30 million American homes, is typically injected into the soil or through foundations or placed in dirt-covered trenches around a house. Humans are exposed to the bug-killer when its chemical residues vaporize and seep into a building.
In recent years, Velsicol has settled several lawsuits alleging that customers exposed to the product experienced headaches, nausea, spontaneous abortions, fatigue, skin rashes, neurological disorders and depression.
The company “was clearly motivated” to enter into Tuesday’s agreement with the EPA to avoid further litigation, at least for now, said Arthur Bryant, an attorney with Trial Lawyers for Public Justice. The group, which has coordinated the lawsuits against Velsicol, has also filed a lawsuit against the EPA demanding that all chlordane sales be halted.
Company officials, however, reiterated their earlier statements that chlordane is not harmful and expressed confidence that new tests would prove this conclusively.
