Pesticide Maker Retracts Fight for Carbofurans

(CN) - The maker of a pesticide containing carbofuran can dismiss its own lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, even through the government says the maneuver helps the company manipulate jurisdiction, a Washington federal judge ruled.

In 2006, the EPA tried to cancel registrations for carbofuran, a pesticide that is highly toxic to vertebrates.

FMC Corp. brought suit under the Administrative Procedure Act, saying that the EPA should be the one to provide the burden of proof for cancellation. The chemical company manufactures Furadan 4f, containing carbofuran, and is the only producer of the pesticide in the United States.

FMC appealed after the EPA canceled all food tolerances for the pesticide in 2009, then it voluntarily canceled its registrations of the chemical for agricultural purposes.

More recently, FMC tried to dismiss its 2007 lawsuit. But the EPA opposed, saying this amounted to "forum shopping" and failed to resolve the issue of who should provide the burden of proof.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina dismissed the case on Monday, calling the EPA's claim that FMC hoped to refile in a more favorable jurisdiction mere "speculation."

"The court will not issue an advisory opinion and entangle itself 'in abstract disagreements over administrative policies ... until an administrative decision has been formalized,'" Urbina wrote.

FMC still maintains three registrations of the pesticide for technical and manufacturing purposes.

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