The US EPA intends to register a new herbicide active ingredient, Glufosinate-P

On May 9, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its decision on the proposed registration of pesticide products containing the new active ingredient Glufosinate-P for public comment until June 8, 2024. All supporting documents relating to Glufosinate-P, including the product labels of the applicant companies BASF and Mitsui Chemicals, can be found under the respective case numbers.

Glufosinate-P was successfully developed by Japanese company in 2006. It has low toxicity, relatively safe, easy degradation in soil, safe for crops and small drift. Wide weed control spectrum (effective on a variety of annual and perennial weeds), can control the malignant weeds resistant to Glyphosate, high activity, rapid killing of grass (between glyphosate and paraquat), long duration; Glufosinate-P is mainly used to kill weeds, will not be transferred to other places, and is safe for later crops.

In 2020, BASF acquired the proprietary Glu-L™ technology for the preparation of L-Glyphosate from AgriMetis™ in the United States. Glufosinate-P products are expected to reduce the amount of chemicals entering the environment, requiring only about half the amount of application, compared to the currently registered Glufosinate-ammonium.

Although the EPA assessment concluded that the proposed use of Glufosinate-P posed no risk to human health, its ecological draft risk assessment noted potential risks to terrestrial and aquatic plants, as well as chronic risks to mammals, bees, and non-bee terrestrial invertebrates. To reduce the impact on non-target species, the EPA has proposed a series of mitigation measures.

EPA's draft biological assessment predicts that after these proposed mitigation measures are taken, the use of Glufosinate-P will not cause harm to the survival of any species in the future or adversely affect any designated critical habitat.