On Friday, October 15, 2010 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Movento (spirotetramat) has been registered, for a second time. Movento was first registered by EPA in June, 2008, but as you likely recall, EPA issued a cancellation order for the Movento registration in April, 2010 that made it unlawful for the manufacture (Bayer CropScience) to sell or distribute the product. However, the cancellation order allowed for the use, sale or distribution of existing supplies of Movento in possession of retailers, distributors and end-users under the provisions of the previously-approved label. The previous Movento registration was terminated because of a judicial action related to a procedural failure on the part of the EPA (failure to publish a notice of receipt of the spirotetramat registration application in the Federal Register). The new registration has been anticipated for several months, and a statement issued by the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs said After evaluating the application for registration and comments received from the publication of the notice of receipt for registration, EPA has determined that spirotetramat does not pose an unreasonable risk of adverse effects to human health or the environment if used according to the label directions and, as such, meets the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act standard for registration. Spirotetramat is now registered for use on citrus, grapes, pome fruit, stone fruit, tree nuts, hops, Christmas tree plantations, and certain vegetables, including potatoes. This new registration will be available in the marketplace for the next growing season (see this link). It is our understanding that pending state approval by the Arizona Department of Agriculture, local growers may purchase inventory and use Movento under the new label. For more information on the new Movento registration please view this press release from Bayer CropScience.

To contact John Palumbo go to: jpalumbo@ag.arizona.edu

For questions or comments on any of the topics please contact Marco Pena at the Yuma Agricultural Center.
College of Agriculture, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.