EPA re-registers Dow's fungicide active ingredient mancozeb

INDIANAPOLIS — Mancozeb, the active ingredient in Dow AgroSciences’ Dithane and Fore specialty fungicides, successfully completed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) re-registration process required for all crop protection chemicals sold in the United States.

Under U.S. law, all pesticides registered prior to 1984 must undergo re-registration, an evolving health and safety review process in which regulators seek new scientific data to address existing and hypothetical concerns.

The EPA requires some label changes based on its review. Dow AgroSciences and other mancozeb registrants voluntarily withdrew five uses: residential turf, foliar applications to cotton, pineapple propagation, athletic fields and use on pachysandra.

Label uses not affected include golf courses, sod farms, nurseries, greenhouses and numerous agricultural crops.

“No significant negative impacts are anticipated in the user community, as alternatives exist to control disease problems,” said Fabian Gil, Dow AgroSciences’ global business leader for Dithane fungicides. “We determined that these uses were seldom employed, and the costs to generate required data could not be economically justified.”