Gowan Co. has announced that it is going “to exit the fenarimol business globally.” The company will continue to “sell and support” the fungicides Rubigan AS and Vintage SC through December 2012, but it plans to discuss voluntary cancellation of all its fenarimol products with the U.S. EPA.
The company says that products typically can be sold for two years after the cancellation date and that consumers are not required to use all the purchased product within a particular timeframe. In addition, the maximum residue limits (MRLs) ordinarily remain the same until the first U.S. EPA review of the product after registration has been cancelled.
Gowan says that an increase in regulations outside the U.S. and rising regulatory costs within the U.S. have led to the decision to discontinue manufacture of fenarimol products.
Rubigan AS is a systemic fungicide that has been used on golf courses in the U.S. for disease control and, especially in recent years, to manage Poa annua and control spring dead spot on bermudagrass greens and tees. Turfgrass researchers, including Joe Vargas at Michigan State University (personal communication) and Lane Tredway at North Carolina State University (www.turfdiseases.org/southeast/what-will-we-do-when-rubigan-is-rubi-gone/) have said that, in most cases, other products can be (and have been) used in place of Rubigan. However, they agree that Rubigan has generally been considered the most effective product for controlling spring dead spot on bermudagrass greens, and researchers will be looking for new ways of coping with that particular problem.
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