The Crop Science division of Bayer today announced its final decision on whether to contest EPA’s cancellation of the insecticide flubendiamide, marketed under the trade name Belt.

Charlotte Sanson, director of registrations for the company, says they “will not engage in further legal dispute” over the matter. “Nevertheless we will continue to stand up for our growers’ access to safe, effective technologies and we will continue to push to ensure all regulatory decisions are based on the best available science,” said Sanson in a written commentary for Bayer.

Sanson says Bayer was faced with several options following EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) final ruling upholding an earlier EPA decision to cancel all flubendiamide registrations but modifying the cancellation order to allow sales of existing stocks to growers by distributors and retailers.

“As a direct result of these efforts, growers can continue to use supplies of Belt that they have on-hand and can purchase more from distributors and retailers while existing stocks last,” said Sanson. “They will however lose future access to a valuable product that even EPA had concluded posed no risk of concern to humans (either through diet or worker exposure), fish, mammals, crustaceans, mollusks, beneficial insects, pollinators, or plants.”

Bayer was also satisfied with another gain in the EAB ruling that EPA committed to never again use the “unique” voluntary cancellation condition so registrants now have a clearly defined path to challenge conditions they do not agree with.