UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

MAR 2 0 2015 

MEMORANDUM 

OFFICE OF CHEMICAL SAFETY 

AND POLLUTION PREVENTION 

SUBJECT: BEAD Chemical Profile (BCP) for Registration Review: Furfural (043301) 

FROM: 

THRU: 

Carl Chen, Ph.D., Plant Pathologist 

Biological Analysis Branch 

Don 

Science 

Atwood, 

Information 

Ph.D., 

and 

Entomologist 

Analysis Branch 

J)" ~ l1f; ~ 

Arnet Jones, Chief 

Biological Analysis Branc 

Diann Sims, Chief 

Science Information and Analysis Branch 

Timothy Kiely, Chief Q \AA._~ Economic Analysis Branch \J J 

Biological and Economic Analysis Division 03P) 

TO: Jolene Trujillo, Chemical Review Manager 

Risk Management and Implementation Branch 5 

Pesticide Re-evaluation Division (7508P) 

Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) 

Peer Review Panel date: March 4, 2015 

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The Biological and Economic Analysis Division (BEAD) Chemical Profile (BCP) provides an 

overview of the pest management role and quantitative usage information available for a 

pesticide. Information provided in this BCP may be used by stakeholders (e.g., users and 

registrants), OPP risk and benefit assessors, OPP risk managers, and the general public during 

the Registration Review process of furfural. 

Furfural was registered in the United States in 2006 (EPA, 2006). Sod/turf farm is the only 

registered agricultural site. The registered non-agricultural sites include ornamental turf (golf 

course and athletic fields), field grown plants and ornamentals (non-bearing fruit trees and vines, 

cut flower production, and production nurseries), and greenhouse ornamentals. Furfural is 

formulated as a flowable concentrate. It has one end-use product packaged as a 90% furfural 

liquid formulation. Application is made using either a ground boom sprayer, chemigation (drip 

and overhead), drench, or low pressure back pack sprayer. 

Furfural is unclassified by pesticide resistance action committees (IRAC, 2014; FRAC, 2014). It 

is an organic compound that can be extracted from various agricultural byproducts such as sugar 

cane bagasse, corncobs, oat husks and bran, wheat bran, and sawdust (Hensley and Burger, 

2006). Furfural is primarily a nematicide that has contact activity. It is also a fungicide that can 

be used against soil-home fungal pathogens. 

Furfural is registered to control root infesting plant parasitic nematodes and fungal plant diseases 

(e.g., Pythium spp., Phytophthora spp., Fusarium spp., and Rhizoctonia spp.). It can be used on 

established turf and is recommended as a chemical nematicide for golf course nematode 

management in Florida (UF, 2015). It has a federal registration for use on ornamentals but does 

not have state registrations in many states including California (NPIRS, 2015). The lack of state 

registrations limited its availability as an alternative to methyl bromide (EPA, 2011). 

There have been no BEAD benefits assessments or FIFRA Section 18 Emergency Exemption 

Requests for furfural since its initial registration. While an emergency exemption request may 

yield information about a chemical's importance or value that is not found in other EPA records, 

the lack of a FIFRA Section 18 assessment by BEAD does not specifically indicate the relative 

importance of this chemical. 

Quantitative usage information for furfural's agricultural and non-agricultural uses are not 

available. Obtaining the following information for all registered agricultural and nonagricultural sites may improve future assessments related to the use and importance of furfural. 

• Total pounds active ingredient applied per year on a national or regional basis 

• Percent crop/site treated 

• Unique geographic areas of use with high intensity 

• Application rates: typical and maximum 

• Frequency of application 

• Application intervals 

• Methods of application 

• Target or niche pest species 

• Efficacy information/product performance 

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REFERENCES 

EPA. 2006. Furfural RED Fact Sheet. Accessed February 2015 at 

http://www.epa.gov I oppOOOO 1/ chem search/reg acti ons/registration/fs PC-043301 0 l -

Sep-06. pdf. 

EPA. 2011. Methyl Bromide Critical Use Nomination (CUN) for Preplant Soil Use for 

Ornamentals in Open Fields and Protection Environments (Submitted in 2011 for 2013 

Use Season). Accessed February 2015 at 

http://www.epa.gov/ozone/mbr/CUN2013/2013CUNOmamentals.pdf. 

FRAC. 2014. Fungicide Resistance Action Committee (FRAC) - 2014 FRAC Code List0 . 

Accessed February 2015 at 

http://www. frac. info/frac/publication/anhang/2014 %20FRAC%20Code%20List. pdf. 

Hensley J, Burger G. 2006. Nematicidal properties of furfural and the development for nematode 

control in various crops for the United States markets. Journal ofNematology 38:274. 

IRAC. 2014. Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC)-IRAC Mode of Action (MoA) 

Classification Scheme. Version 7.3. Issued April 2014. Accessed February 2015 at 

http://www.irac-online.org/documents/moa-classification/?ext=pdf. 

NPIRS. 2015. Furfural federal/state registrations on ornamental. National Pesticide Information 

Retrieval System (NRIRS). Accessed February 2015 at http://npirs.ceris.purdue.edu. 

UF. 2015. Nematode management for golf courses in Florida. University of Florida IFAS 

Extension. Accessed February 2015 at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in124. 

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