The Environmental Protection Agency moved Thursday to stop the use of the pesticide carbofuran on all food crops, including those that are imported.

Carbofuran is used to control beetles and other pests in corn, sorghum, alfalfa, rice, bananas and other crops. Its granular form was banned in the mid-1990s after it was found to have killed more than 2 million birds.

Marketed under the brand name Furadan, carbofuran is manufactured by Philadelphia-based chemical maker FMC Corp.

EPA spokesman Dale Kemery said the agency will publish proposed regulations next week addressing the dietary risks of carbofuran. “This prohibits all residue of any kind on food products, and that includes imported foods,” Kemery said.

The proposed regulation is the latest action in an effort EPA began in 2006 to remove carbofuran from the market. EPA in future regulations will address the risks that the pesticide poses to farmworkers and the environment, Kemery said.

FMC Spokesman Jim Fitzwater said the company believes there is no danger in using carbofuran on food crops.

In a fact sheet, the EPA said carbofuran “can overstimulate the nervous system, causing nausea, dizziness, confusion, and _ at very high exposures _ respiratory paralysis and death.”

Bird conservationists, who have argued for years that carbofuran should be banned, hailed the decision.

“This is really a big step for wildlife,” said Steve Holmer, spokesman for the American Bird Conservancy. “I think the EPA deserves a lot of credit for trying to figure out a way to get this done quickly.”

Kemery said the regulation will likely take effect in 2009 after a comment period.

The public comment period “gives us another opportunity to demonstrate that there is no dietary risk,” said Fitzwater, the FMC spokesman.

Kemery said the Food and Drug Administration will be testing for compliance with the proposed rule.

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On the Net:

Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov

American Bird Conservancy: http://www.abcbirds.org/