Officials reverse course on pesticide’s harm to wildlife

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. wildlife officials have reversed their previous finding that a widely used and highly toxic pesticide could jeopardize dozens of plants and animals with extinction, after receiving pledges from chemical manufacturers that they will change product labels for malathion so that it's used more carefully by consumers.

Federal regulations for malathion have been under review in response to longstanding complaints that the pesticide used to control mosquitoes, grasshoppers and other insects also kills many protected plants and animals. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined in a draft finding last April that malathion could threaten the continued existence of 78 imperiled species and cause lesser harm to many more.

Wildlife officials reversed their position on the 78 species in a Feb. 28 biological opinion following talks between malathion manufacturers, officials from the wildlife service and the Environmental Protection Agency, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press in advance of their public release.

Wildlife service officials now say malathion could cause limited harm to hundreds of species, but is unlikely to jeopardize any of them with extinction as long as labels that dictate its use are changed. Their conclusion depends on farmers, gardeners and other consumers abiding by the instructions on where and when to use the pesticide.

But environmentalists who wanted more restrictions imposed expressed doubt that the government's collaboration with chemical companies would lead to meaningful changes. They also objected to an 18month timeline for the EPA to approve new malathion application guidelines, saying there's no reason for further delay.

"This is an enormous punt," said Brett Hartl with the Center for Biological Diversity. "There's not a single endangered species that will see anything change on the ground because of this biological opinion for at least 18 months, but probably never."

The manufacturers agreed to use labels that provide extensive guidelines on when and where malathion should be used to avoid killing wildlife. For example, the labels would say not to spray malathion to kill mosquitoes during the middle of the day, when bees and some other insects are more active and thus more likely to be inadvertently killed.