Adverse Effects Part 1:
Amyloidosis - Kidney
Blood
Body Weight Decrease
Bone
Brain
CNS
Deaths from Vikane fumigation
Endocrine: Adrenal
Endocrine: Hypothalmus
Endocrine: Thyroid

Adverse Effects Part 2:
Eye
Heart
Kidney
Liver
Lung
Tremors/Convulsions

Vikane
Fluoro de sulfurilo (Italian)
Fluorure de sulfuryle (French)
Sulfonyl fluoride
Sulfur difluoride dioxide
Sulfuric oxyfluoride
Sulfuryl fluoride
Sulphuryl difluoride 
Termafume (cancelled)

US:
Dow Chemical, Pittsburg, California

Material Safey Data Sheet & Labels

In January 2007, California solicited public comments on proposal to designate sulfuryl fluoride as a toxic air contaminant (TAC). A public hearing has been scheduled to receive oral comments regarding the proposed regulatory changes.
• Comments submitted by FAN and Beyond Pesticides (January 31, 2007)
• Proposed text
• Proposed Regulatory Action
• Initial Statement of Reasons
• July 2006: Sulfuryl fluoride (Vikane® ). Health Risk Assessment.
• July 2006: Sulfuryl fluoride (Vikane® ). Exposure Assessment.
• July 2006: Sulfuryl fluoride (Vikane® ). Environmental Fate.
• August 29, 2006: Findings of the California Scientific Review Panel on the Proposed Identification of Sulfuryl Fluoride as a Toxic Air Contaminant
• September 2006: Sulfuryl fluoride (Vikane® ) Risk Characterization Document. Executive Summary
• September 18, 2006: : Statement of the director of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to declare sulfuryl fluoride as a toxic air contaminant (TAC). The state statute defines TACs as air pollutants that may cause or contribute to increases in serious illness or death, or that may pose a present or potential hazard to human health.

Jan 23, 2006: Conservation Group Moves for Court Order Restricting Use of 66 Pesticides in Core Red-Legged Frog Habitat.
• Note from FAN: Chloropicrin was one of the 66 pestcides listed. One of its uses is as a "Warning Agent (odor)" in Vikane®.
San Francisco, Calif. – The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) in a legal motion today asked a U.S. District Court to protect the threatened California red-legged frog (Rana aurora draytonii) from 66 of the most toxic and persistent pesticides authorized for use in California, by creating pesticide-free buffer zones around the frog’s core habitat and by requiring consumer hazard warnings so that all Californians may learn how to protect frogs.
In response to a lawsuit filed by CBD against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in April of 2002, the District Court found in September of 2005 that the EPA violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by registering pesticides for use without considering how they might impact the continued existence of the red-legged frog. The motion for “injunctive relief” delivered today asks the court to protect the frog from pesticides in or adjacent to aquatic frog habitat designated as core recovery areas, until the EPA completes a formal consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on the impacts of the pesticides on red-legged frogs, as required under the ESA... CBD is asking the Court to impose a three-year schedule for the EPA to determine whether the 66 pesticides may affect the red-legged frog and to complete formal consultations with USFWS to ensure the pesticides are not jeopardizing the frog or contributing to its decline. To minimize harm to frogs during the consultation process, the motion asks for an injunction on use of the pesticides around aquatic features and upland habitats within the frog’s core recovery areas, as designated by USFWS in the agency’s Recovery Plan for the California Red-legged Frog. This injunction would also apply buffer areas for terrestrial and aerial pesticide applications, affecting approximately 7 percent of the current range of the frog and less than 1 percent of the area of California. CBD is also requesting that the EPA conduct monitoring for pesticides in three of the recovery areas to determine whether the buffers are effectively protecting the frog, inform pesticide users about the injunction, and post point-of-sale notifications warning consumers about harmful effects these pesticides may have on the frog...

FINAL DRAFT Sulfuryl Fluoride (Vikane)
RISK CHARACTERIZATION DOCUMENTS
Department of Pesticide Regulation
California Environmental Protection Agency

Volume I Health Risk Assessment - June 1, 2005

Volume II Exposure Assessment - June 1, 2005

Volume III Environmental Fate - July 5, 2005

Volume IV DPR Responses to Comments - June 1, 2005

From Environmental Fate - Volume III
... pages 7-8: A search of the open science literature produced no citations relevant to the fate of sulfuryl fluoride in the atmosphere ... Little or no data on sulfuryl fluoride’s environmental and atmospheric loss processes are available. There are no experimental data to confirm that it photolyzes in the troposphere or reacts with OH radicals, NO3 radicals, or O3. It is entirely possible that sulfuryl fluoride has a long or very long atmospheric lifetime and should therefore be considered a greenhouse gas.

Released in February 2005:

June 18, 2003. Report for Air Monitoring Around a Structural Application of Sulfuryl Fluoride Fall - 2002 . Project No. P-02-004. California Environmental Protection Agency. Air Resources Board. [see also the Appendices to this report]

(page ii): The sampling procedures used for sulfuryl fluoride for this study were not valid. The laboratory report states: "With one exception, all samples with quantifiable results from the primary collection bed demonstrated quantifiable breakthrough into the secondary bed. Primary charcoal beds varied greatly in amount of sulfuryl fluoride collected. Staff consulted with SKC and NIOSH regarding sample breakthrough. NIOSH indicated that a sample collection rate of one liter (Ilpm) may be too high and that the collection rate should be kept at 0.1 Ipm or less. They did not explain why method development tubes spiked with sulfuryl fluoride gas did not show breakthrough when subjected to 1 Ipm sampling conditions for 24 hours. Because there was primary bed breakthrough, one might assume that sample may have been lost from breakthrough of the secondary collection beds."

The laboratory report does not estimate the extent of the breakthrough. However, the fact that breakthrough onto the secondary bed occurred for all samples, even those of relatively short sampling duration (e.g., 2 hours), indicates that loss of sulfuryl fluoride was likely significant due to an ineffective sampling technique. The sample results presented for sulfuryl fluoride in this report are not valid due to extensive breakthrough. Additional method development must be conducted to determine appropriate sampling strategies before further tests are conducted...

January 2002. Revised March 2004. Report: "Use Information and Air Monitoring recommendations for the pesticide active ingredients Sulfuryl Fluoride and Chloropicrin." California Department of Pesticide Regulation, Environmental Hazards Assessment Program.

... the annual use for structural fumigations in California from 1999 to 2002 ranged approximately 1,117,000 to 3,900,000 pounds of sulfuryl fluoride (Table 3) ... in the top 15 counties of use. The majority use of sulfuryl fluoride occurred in three counties - Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego.

Sulfuryl fluoride
EPA Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)
Facility Air Releases by Year
(Note: TRI statistics on Sulfuryl fluoride began in 1995. The latest statistics for 2003 were released in 2005. TRI does not include all industries or sources of air releases.)

"Fumigants -used to kill insects, insect eggs, and microorganisms- are the most acutely toxic pesticides used in agriculture. Because they are gases, fumigants are usually taken directly into the lungs, where they readily enter the blood and are distributed throughout the body. Although inhalation is the most serious source of exposure and can lead rapidly to death, absorption of fumigants through the skin can also be a significant hazard (103) [page 293]."
Ref: U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Neurotoxicity: Identifying and Controlling Poisons of the Nervous System, OTA-BA-436 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, April 1990).
http://www.wws.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/byteserv.prl/~ota/disk2/1990/9031/9031.PDF

Rationale for US EPA to add Sulfuryl Fluoride to the Toxic Release Inventory

The primary effects of sulfuryl fluoride in humans are respiratory irritation and central nervous system depression, followed by excitation and possibly convulsions. Rabbits exposed via inhalation (6 hours/day, 5 days/week, for 2 weeks) to sulfuryl fluoride showed hyperactivity, convulsions and vacuolation of the cerebrum at 600 ppm (2.5 mg/L). Renal lesions were present in all rats exposed by inhalation (6 hours/day, 5 days/week, for 2 weeks) to 600 ppm (2.5 mg/ L) sulfuryl fluoride. Minimal renal changes were noted in rats exposed to 300 ppm (1252 mg/L), whereas no effects occurred at 100 ppm (4.2 mg/ L). Convulsions at near lethal concentrations were reported in rabbits, mice, and rats. In a 30-day inhalation study, loss of control, tremors of the hind quarters, and histopathological changes in the lung, liver, and kidney were reported in rabbits exposed to 400 ppm (1.6 mg/L) for 7 hours/day, 5 days/week for 5 weeks. The NOEL was 200 ppm (0.83 mg/L). Cerebral vacuolation and/or malacia and inflammation of nasal tissues were observed in rabbits exposed by inhalation to 100 or 300 ppm (0.4 or 1.25 mg/L) for 13 weeks. The NOEL was 30 ppm (0.125 mg/L). Rats exposed by inhalation to 100 to 600 ppm (0.4 to 0.25 mg/L) sulfuryl fluoride for 13 weeks developed mottled teeth (indicative of fluoride toxicity), renal and respiratory effects, and cerebral vacuolation. EPA believes that there is sufficient evidence for listing sulfuryl fluoride on EPCRA section 313 pursuant to EPCRA section 313(d)(2)(B) based on the available neurological, renal, and respiratory toxicity data for this chemical.

Ref: USEPA/OPP. Support Document for the Addition of Chemicals from Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Active Ingredients to EPCRA Section 313. U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC (1993). As cited by US EPA in: Federal Register: January 12, 1994. Part IV. 40 CFR Part 372. Addition of Certain Chemicals; Toxic Chemical Release Reporting; Community Right-to-Know; Proposed Rule.

Registered Uses in the U.S. for Vikane

Uses
Poison, single dose, Insecticide, Miticide
 
Pests
Drywood termites, Formosan termite, Powderpost beetles, Furniture beetle, Deathwatch beetle, Old house borer, Carpet beetle (larvae), Bed bug, Clothes moths, Cockroaches, Rodents
 
Locations
Domestic dwellings (indoor) (fumigation), Household contents (stored clothes) (fumigation), Household contents (upholstered furniture) (fumigation), Terrestrial structures (nonsoil contact fumigation treatment), Buses (nonfeed/nonfood) (fumigation), Ships (surface) (nonfeed/nonfood) (fumigation), Railroad boxcars (nonfeed/nonfood) (fumigation), Trucks (nonfeed/nonfood) (fumigation), Recreational vehicles (nonfeed/nonfood) (fumigation), Shiping containers (nonfeed/nonfood) (fumigation), Transportation vehicles (feed/food empty) (fumigation), Warehouses (empty) (fumigation)

Source: Pesticide Action Network