The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Monday it will impose
restrictions on spraying three agricultural pesticides to keep them out
of salmon streams after manufacturers refused to adopt the limits
voluntarily.

EPA will develop new rules for applying the chemicals
diazinon, malathion and chlorpyrifos that will include no-spray zones
along streams and restrictions on spraying depending on weather
conditions, EPA spokesman Dale Kemery said in an e-mail. There will also
be requirements to report dead fish.

Even at very low levels, the
chemicals have been found by federal biologists to interfere with
salmon’s sense of smell, making it harder for them to find food, avoid
predators and return to native waters to spawn.

The EPA action
stems from a lawsuit filed by anti-pesticide groups in 2001.

Manufacturers
Dow AgroSciences, Makhteshim Agan of North America, Cheminova and
Gharda Chemicals Ltd. notified EPA on Friday that they would not
voluntarily adopt the restrictions, said Dow AgroSciences spokesman
Garry Hamlin.

In a letter to the EPA, a lawyer for Dow
AgroSciencies and Makhteshim Agan said the companies feel there is no
scientific evidence the pesticides are killing, harming or jeopardizing
the survival of salmon, or harming critical habitat, and that the NOAA
Fisheries analysis was deficient.

They also objected to EPA’s
handling of the case.

The EPA decision comes a year and a half
after NOAA Fisheries Service found the pesticides threaten the survival
of 27 species of salmon and steelhead that are protected by the
Endangered Species Act in the West.