The herbicide Kerb flo 400, which is commonly used in free-range cultivations and forest plantations to eliminate weeds, has been banned in Sweden due to the risk of its metabolites, which are suspected of being carcinogenic, ending up in groundwater. The Chemicals Agency recommends a sales ban to prevent the use of the agent that poses an “unacceptable risk”. Those who have the product must hand it over to approved waste handlers within three months. The product has previously been approved in Sweden for open-field cultivations of various plants and nurseries. The Chemicals Inspectorate has stated that companies are responsible for showing their plant protection products do not entail unacceptable risks. The active substance in the herbicide is propyzamide.
The agent is used against weeds in, among other things, free-range cultivations and forest plantations, but it has now been banned in Sweden.
“There is a risk that using the product leads to metabolites, which are suspected of being carcinogenic, ending up in the groundwater,” says Sara Furuhagen, ecotoxicologist at the Chemicals Agency, in a press release.
Metabolites are a breakdown product in the body.
As use of the agent poses an “unacceptable risk”, a sales ban came into force already on Friday. Users have three months to hand over the agent they have at home or in storage to approved waste handlers.
In Sweden, the product has been approved against, among other things, weeds in open-field cultivations of rapeseed, turnip, apple, pear, plum, cherry, energy forest, forest plantations, lettuce, ornamental plants, hedgerow plantations and nurseries.
It is the company that wants to sell a plant protection product in Sweden that has the responsibility to show that it does not entail unacceptable risks, writes the Chemicals Inspectorate. The authority assesses that the company in question has not done so.
The active substance in the herbicide Kerb flo 400 is propyzamide.
The Chemicals Inspectorate’s new trial comes after a new evaluation of propyzamide at EU level showed that the active substance’s metabolites (metabolism product that arose in the body through a chemical reaction) are suspected carcinogens.
Sources: National Encyclopedia, Chemicals Inspectorate
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