A cancellation order has been issued by the Environmental Protection Agency for three dicamba herbicides, and the Missouri Department of Agriculture is following the EPA guidelines.
The order was made on June 8, and applies to Engenia, FeXapan and XtendiMax. This follows a verdict from the 9th US circuit court outlawing dicamba nationwide on June 3rd.
Pesticide Control Program Administrator Dawn Wall says that the EPA is following the decisions of the courts and the MDA is complying with those regulations.
“Historically speaking, when a cancellation has been ordered, this is typical protocol for EPA to have an existing stocks provision,” she says.
Any existing stocks of these products can be used through July 31, but products purchased after June 3 should be returned to the registrants for proper disposal.
This new regulation prohibits distribution or sale by pesticide registrants, and it prohibits sale by distributors or retailers, except for return sales back to registrants for proper disposal.
However, more has since developed in the case. In an email this morning, Department spokesperson Sammi Jo Freeman said that the plaintiffs in the case “responded yesterday to EPA’s brief filed Tuesday justifying the use of Dicamba through their Existing Stocks Policy.”
“Anything could change, and it could change quickly, if the court sides with the plaintiffs on their emergency motion to immediately stop the use of Engenia, FeXapan and XtendiMax,” Freeman said.