In an action reminiscent of his predecessor's handling of the DDT cancellation case,¹ EPA Administrator Russell Train recently declined to follow an administrative law judge's recommendation and suspended registrations for the major uses of the pesticides chlordane and heptachlor.² The ruling is expected to result in a drop of 70 and 85 percent, respectively, in the use of the chemicals.

The Administrator's analysis of the "imminent hazard" standard which governs suspension proceedings under §6 of the Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act of 1972, still referred to as the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA),³ adds to the growing body of judicial and administrative law dealing with the latent health risks associated with environmental dispersion of various toxic industrial and agricultural chemicals. The decision also ventures into the thicket of weighing the risks presented by the continued use of chlordane and heptachlor against the economic benefits of such use.