Drinking water could harbor one less threat if the EPA follows through on a proposal to limit doses of one of the planet´s most toxic insecticides.

Restricting agricultural applications of aldicarb will safeguard drinking water sources in four southeastern agricultural states and prevent bird kills across the country, according to research by a conservation organization.

Through Dec. 11, the Environmental Protection Agency is accepting public comments on a reduction plan it presented in October. Currently, the pesticide is registered for use on crops including citrus, cotton, dry beans, peanuts, pecans, potatoes, sorghum, soybeans, sugar beets, sugarcane, sweet potatoes and seed alfalfa. In certain geographical regions, it also can be applied to ornamental plants, tobacco and coffee.

Under federal regulations, each registered pesticide must undergo a technical review every 15 years. Aldicarb is formulated and marketed as a granular pesticide, and is produced by Bayer CropScience.

For aldicarb to remain on the market, the EPA reports, farmers will now have to limit both the amount of pesticide they use per treatment and the total number of applications they make annually. For instance, the insecticide will no longer be applied to coffee, pecans, sugarcane, sorghum, tobacco and alfalfa. As well, its use will be significantly reduced on other crops. Those limits are expected to be a boon to drinking water sources in Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and Alabama.

To protect birds, which can ingest the chemical, exposed granules must be dissolved via irrigation or plowed under immediately after an application to a field crop.

The American Bird Conservancy had asked the federal government to ban or severely restrict the pesticide.

"Aldicarb is so toxic that a single granule is lethal if eaten by a songbird," explained Michael Fry, a conservancy advocate. "(We) will be monitoring the EPA to ensure that these mitigation measures are in place."

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