Imprelis: Another Deadly Herbicide, This Time From DuPont

Reader Contribution by Barbara Pleasant And Cheryl Long
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This post was updated Aug. 12, 2011.

Since 2008, we’ve been reporting on the dangers of pyralid herbicides (including Milestone, Forefront and other trade names), which turn grass clippings, manure or hay into killer compost or mulch that can ruin gardens and farmland for years.

Despite ample evidence that these deadly herbicides are damaging fields and gardens?—?and despite our calls for the companies and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to solve this problem?—?we learned another dangerous pyralid herbicide, aminocyclopyrachlor, had been widely sold in the spring of 2011 following its approval by the EPA in August 2010. Invented by scientists at DuPont and sold as “Imprelis,” aminocyclopyrachlor was marketed to control weeds in cool-season lawn grasses, especially bluegrass.

After one season of use, Imprelis has been implicated in the injury or death of thousands of trees. Conifers that are growing in or near grassy areas treated with Imprelis, and are showing new growth that is brown and twisted, have been reported in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Iowa, Delaware , Indiana, Nebraska , Wisconsin, and several other states. Michigan State has published an advisory on What to Do With Imprelis-Affected Trees, and Purdue University in Indiana has set up channels for Imprelis related herbicide complaints, as have Nebraska and Wisconsin. And what will happen when the chipped wood from these poisoned trees ends up at compost facilities? DuPont never denied Imprelis-treated lawns would create killer compost. Lost in a 19-item bulleted list on Page 7 of the nine-page Imprelis label, we found this language:

“Do not use grass clippings from treated areas for mulching or compost, or allow for collection to composting facilities. Grass clippings must either be left on the treated area, or, if allowed by local yard waste regulations, disposed of in the trash. Applicators must give verbal or written notice to property owner/property managers/residents to not use grass clippings from treated turf for mulch or compost.”

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