Senate Passes Legislation Retaining Sulfuryl Fluoride's Food Tolerances

****updated 2/4/2014, at 4:35 p.m.****

The U.S. Senate today approved legislation retaining the food uses for the fumigant sulfuryl fluoride. The measure is contained in the much larger, 950-page plus Farm Bill Conference Report, which passed the House last week and is expected to be signed into law soon by President Obama. The passage of legislation preserving sulfuryl fluoride's food tolerances is a significant public policy victory for NPMA.  

The legislation effectively reverses a proposed order revoking or withdrawing sulfuryl fluoride's food tolerances that U.S. EPA put forward in January of 2011 under the threat of activist group litigation. The activists claimed that sulfuryl fluoride's tolerances were not permissible because the "risk cup" for sulfuryl fluoride was already filled with fluoride in drinking water and dental care products.