Jun 19, 2019Chlorpropham (CIPC) officially banned by European Union
The European Commission will no longer allow the use of the herbicide chlorpropham (CIPC) as of Jan. 1, 2020. The European Potato Processors Association (EUPPA) reported the development to its members June 18.
Chlorpropham is a plant growth regulator used for preemergence control of grass weeds in alfalfa, lima and snap beans, blueberries, caneberries, carrots, cranberries, ladino clover, garlic, seed grass, onions, spinach, sugar beets, tomatoes, safflower, soybeans, gladioli and woody nursery stock. It is also used to inhibit potato sprouting and for sucker control in tobacco.
The EU Commission has published its Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/989 concerning the non-renewal of approval of the active substance chlorpropham.
Based on the regulation, CIPC authorization has not been renewed. Member states will have to withdraw authorizations for plant protection products containing CIPC as an active substance by Jan. 8, 2020.
The ban of CIPC in the EU has been in the works for months and was expected by the industry. It is not easy to find alternatives, though. The big problem is for existing potato storage sites. CIPC gets into the (wooden) frames of the boxes, so residues can still be found long after the ban. For this reason, CIPC is no longer applied in most new storage locations.
The new regulation further states that any grace period granted by member states in accordance with Article 46 of Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2009 shall be as short as possible and shall expire by Oct. 8, 2020.
The use of CIPC is permitted in the U.S.
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