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HEXAFLUMURON GETS GREEN CHEMISTRY AWARD
Chemical & Engineering News, July 10, 2000.

C&EN 7/10/00

HEXAFLUMURON GETS GREEN CHEMISTRY AWARD

The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards were established in 1995 by President Bill Clinton to recognize and promote fundamental green chemistry technologies that promote pollution prevention and that have broad application in industry. The awards have been presented each year since 1996. Twenty organizations, corporations, and universities cosponsor the awards.

According to one estimate, U.S. consumers spend as much as $1.5 billion annually on termite treatment and as many as 1.5 million homes require treatment each year. The standard method of treatment is the creation of a chemical barrier around the threatened structure. Indianapolis-based Dow AgroSciences has developed a system for eliminating termite colonies-known by the trade name Sentricon---that does not require the usual widespread application of chemical deterrents. The Sentricon system is one technology among five that were honored with a green chemistry award at a ceremony on June 26 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. Dow AgroSciences received the award in the designing safer chemicals category.

With Dow AgroSciences' termite-elimination system, monitoring stations are set up around a structure. When termite activity is detected by a station, termite bait containing the compound hexaflumuron is loaded into the station. Hexaflumuron inhibits the synthesis of chitin, a component of the exoskeleton of insects. When the insects try to molt, they can't grow a new exoskeleton and they die.

Hexaflumuron was the first compound to be registered with EPA as a reduced-risk pesticide. Such compounds, according to EPA, reduce pesticide risks to humans and nontarget organisms, reduce the potential for environmental contamination, or broaden the adoption of integrated pest management. Hexaflumuron is considered reduced risk because it is used only when termite activity has been detected, and even then it is used only inside the monitoring stations. Hexaflumuron was more effective than other materials that were tested as termite bait. The bait has to be slow-acting enough for the termites to consume it. The termites will avoid the bait if it kills them too quickly. In addition, hexaflumuron was effective against multiple subterranean termite species. The only potential concern with hexaflumuron is that it is toxic to daphnia, an aquatic invertebrate. However, there is little likelihood that the pesticide would reach an aquatic environment.

With the Dursban line of pesticides, Dow AgroSciences was a major player with the number-one liquid termiticide. However, the company anticipated that the traditional method of termite treatment would eventually be replaced. Last month, EPA and Dow AgroSciences agreed to eliminate nearly all household uses of chlorpyrifos, the active ingredient in Dursban. (C&EN 7/10/00)