Recently, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a draft of the biological opinion from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) regarding two widely used herbicides – atrazine and simazine. A 60-day public comment period has also been initiated.
The release of this draft represents an important step for the EPA and FWS in fulfilling the statutory consultation process under the Endangered Species Act. The preliminary conclusions of the draft indicate that, after the adoption of appropriate mitigation measures, these two herbicides do not pose a hazard or adverse impact on most of the endangered species and their critical habitats that were determined to have “possible adverse effects” in the 2021 biological assessment.
Regulatory Background
According to the Endangered Species Act, the EPA must ensure that its actions (including the approval of pesticide registrations) will not cause harm or adverse effects to the federally-listed endangered or threatened species and their critical habitats.
When the EPA determines in its biological assessment that a certain pesticide “may affect” the endangered or threatened species listed by the federal government, it must initiate a formal consultation process with the FWS or the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). In response, the relevant agency will issue a biological opinion to ultimately determine whether the use of the pesticide constitutes a “hazard”.
The glyphosate and mesotrione, which are widely used herbicides in the US agriculture, have drawn much attention in the ESA assessment process. After the EPA completed the biological assessment in 2021, it initiated formal consultations with the FWS. The recently released draft of the biological opinion is a crucial part of this process.
Impact on relevant enterprises
● Short-term outlook is positive: The draft has concluded that these two products will not cause “harm or adverse effects” for the majority of species, alleviating the industry’s concerns about the potential widespread ban on these products.
● Long-term attention is still necessary: Assessments for a few species are still ongoing, and the final biological opinions may still require additional and stricter mitigation measures, which could affect product labels and usage guidelines. Companies need to be prepared for potential label changes and usage restrictions.
Subsequent plan
After the public consultation concludes, the EPA will forward the collected opinions to FWS for its reference in the final draft. According to the directive of the federal court, the final FWS biological opinion is scheduled to be completed by March 31, 2026. After all consultations with FWS and NMFS (whose final opinion is planned to be completed in 2030) are concluded, the EPA will make the final decision on the registration of atrazine and simazine. It is recommended that relevant enterprises closely monitor this process to ensure that their compliance strategies are in sync with regulatory requirements.
Post time: Oct-23-2025