FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK PESTICIDE PROJECT

Return to FAN's Pesticide Homepage

Return to Flumioxazin Index Page


Flumioxazin. April 13, 2001 Press Release: Two U.S. congressmen successfully campaign for flumioxazin use in 2001 growing season.


Press Release from Saxby Chambliss, Georgia's 8th Congressional District

Saxby Chambliss Applauds Bush Administration's Approval of Flumioxazin; EPA will allow farmers to use herbicide in late planting season

April 13, 2001

WASHINGTON Ð U.S. Rep. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) today praised the Bush Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency for their decision to allow growers to use the herbicide Flumioxazin on their crops during the 2001 growing season. According to the EPA, the herbicide was registered Thursday.

Field studies have shown that Flumioxazin, a pre-emergence broad leaf herbicide, helps control the Florida Beggarweed, the prime weed problem and enemy of the peanut crop, by 92%.

Chambliss and Southeastern peanut farmers have been urging the EPA to release the herbicide by April 15, 2001, in order to allow time for the herbicide to be used late in the planting season, beginning around May 1, 2001.

Chambliss initiated correspondence with the EPA in July of 2000, urging them to address the matter.

"I am pleased that the EPA has recognized the importance of an early release date for this much-needed herbicide," said Chambliss. "It is a critical step toward helping our growers with weed control and will help growers lower their cost of production."

Flumioxazin will also be labeled for soybeans, therefore lowering competitive price options for growers. Studies have shown that use of Flumioxazin could result in reduction of production costs upwards of $16.08 per acre.

Chambliss is a member of the House Agriculture Committee and Chairman of the General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee. He represents the 8th Congressional District of Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives.