The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently registered ten products containing an active insecticide, known as isocycloseram. According to an EPA press release from Nov. 20, the pesticide is aimed for use on turf and ornamental plants, commercial, industrial and domestic sites to help farmers manage and grow their crops.
Environmental organizations expressed concern that the EPA did not address the potential health effects of the insecticide, according to a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity.
Before isocycloseram’s approval, a risk assessment was conducted by the pesticide company, but findings were ignored by the EPA, according to the press release.
As a result, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety joined together and filed a lawsuit against the EPA, according to the case file.
Nathan Donley, the environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, expressed concern that the pesticide company has a vested interest in approving the product.
“All the studies on isocycloseram are done by the pesticide companies, which is worrisome as it is, because those companies have a biased interest toward the safety of their products, so this is just something inherently unfortunate about the pesticide approval process,” Donley said.
The assessment exposed rats to isocycloseram and discovered it causes reduced testicle size, reduced sperm count and harm to the liver in males. However, according to the EPA press release, “No human health risks of concern were identified when isocycloseram is used according to the registered labels.”
Donley also mentioned the experiments on animal subjects were flawed because the rats were not exposed to anything but the insecticide.
“Another worry is that animal experiments looking at isocycloseram toxicity are done on healthy rats that were not exposed to anything else,” Donley said. “And in the real world, we're all exposed to dozens of chemicals, often at the same time. We don't have ideal diets. We're all dealing with stress, and all these things can make us much more sensitive to the effects of chemicals.”
Donley said many international organizations and U.S. states have classified isocycloseram as a “forever chemical,” or PFAS, meaning it never breaks down.
“The major worry here is persistence,” Donley said. “PFAS don't break down. What this means is the fluorinated part of the chemical is going to be around forever. What happens with isocycloserum is it's going to, very slowly, over the course of probably decades, degrade down into a smaller PFAS called TFA, or trifluoroacetic acid.”
Donley said those who are most at risk are the people who spray isocycloseram occupationally, people whose diets consist of foods treated with isocycloseram, pregnant women and children.
Isocycloseram is aimed for usage on crops including apples, oranges, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, bell peppers, cucumbers, peaches, almonds, wheat and oats.
Ed Perkins, owner and operator of Sassafras Farm, an organic farm located in New Marshfield, discussed the possible dangers of forever chemicals like isocycloseram.
“Something that breaks down quickly into less harmful products might be acceptable,” Perkins said. “If this is more long-term, something that can build up, of course, that's where you get the environmental damage. Something that can accumulate in the environment, and the bioaccumulation, too, within animals and plants.”
Donley commented on whether or not he thinks the chemical will be used by farmers across the country.
“When people spray these, they take on a calculated risk,” Donley said. “And to a lot of farmers, the ease of being able to spray a pesticide, that benefit outweighs the risks to them. And unfortunately, I think it's just human nature to not really put a lot of weight on the risks that can happen 20-30 years down the line.”
