Product: GOAL Active ingredient: OXYFLOURFEN 40% Other ingredients: 60% Various formulations contain, in amounts considered trade secret: solvent naphtha, N-methyl pyrrolidone, calcium didecylbenzene sulfonate, ethyle benzene, cyclohexanone, zylene (SDS). Type: Diphenyl HERBICIDE (contact) Of the total oxyfluorfen used in California in 1994, 12% was applied to wine grapes. Most oxyfluorfen products were canceled by the US EPA in 1982. TOXICOLOGY Because liver tumors were observed in laboratory animals used to assess oxyfluorfen, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) considers oxyfluorfen as having a possible adverse effect in tumor formation. A U.C. Berkeley School of Public Health study of pesticides in California, ranked oxyfluorfen seventh of California pesticides for cancer potency among pesticides used in California (Pease 1996). A contaminant (inadvertant byproduct of manufacture) ingredient, tetrachloroethylene, is listed as a human carcinogen by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment under California's Proposition 65. In teratology [birth defect] studies, fused bones were observed in the offspring of pregnant animals which were exposed to Goal. Additional teratology studies have been required by EPA due to the structural similarity between oxyfluorfen and nitrofen, which is a known teratogen (Caltrans EIR). Evidence suggests that oxyfluorfen may cause gene mutations (DPR 1992) Chronic toxicity studies in test animals showed changes in the liver and liver cells (Caltrans 1991). Oxyfluorfen has demonstrated blood, kidney and thyroid damage in toxicity research (EPA 1981). ENVIRONMENTAL FATE AND EFFECTS Oxyflourfen is a high priority candidate for evaluation as a toxic air contaminant (DPR 1994). Tetrachloroethylene, oxyfluorfen's contaminent, volatizes readily to air where it one half of it remains for 70-251 days (ASTDR 1996). One half of oxyflourfen remains in soil from 30 to 40 days. In soil where light does not penetrate, the rate of decomposition is decreased, thus oxyfluorfen is some what long-lived in soil (Caltrans 1991). Oxyflourfen travels (seeps, leaches) through soil to groundwater and has contaminated many aquifers (ASTDR 1996). Models indicate that oxyfluorfen has a strong potential for bioconcentration in aquatic organisms (Ibid). The label for Goal states that the product is highly toxic to fish, aquatic invertebrates, freshwater clams, oysters, and aquatic plants.