New daminozide review.An Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and (EPA EPA eicosapentaenoic acid. EPA abbr. eicosapentaenoic acid EPA, n.pr See acid, eicosapentaenoic. EPA, n. ) scientific advisory panel met late last month to review the agency's proposed ban of daminozide da·min·o·zide n. A chemical plant growth regulator, C6H12N2O3, formerly used to increase the storage life of fruit, and currently used as a growth retardant for azaleas, chrysanthemums, and other plants. , a widely used plant-growth regulator (SN: 9/7/85, p.149). Now, the panel reports, the studies on which EPA based its claim that daminozide was a likely human carcinogen do not support EPA's assessment of a health risk. Such findings do not obligate obligate /ob·li·gate/ (ob´li-gat) pertaining to or characterized by the ability to survive only in a particular environment or to assume only a particular role, as an obligate anaerobe. EPA to withdraw its proposed ban. However, says EPA's Al Heier, the panel's report is going to make EPA's decision on whether to push for a ban "a very tough one," because the panel sidestepped altogether the issue of whether these studies might still be adequate to justify suspending use of the chemical until better data become available. EPA is awaiting additional required, and equally nonbinding, comments on its proposed ban from the Department of Agriculture. Those comments are expected around the end of the month. |
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