Florida, New York and Wisconsin have aggressive aldicarb programs of their own, said John A. Moore, EPA's assistant administrator for pesticides.
The EPA is studying the risks of eating foods that contain aldicarb residues.
Roger Lowell, district director for the federal Food and Drug Administration in Seattle, said it is illegal to use aldicarb on growing food products.
John A. Moore, assistant EPA administrator for pesticides, told reporters Wednesday that the agency probably would ban use of aldicarb in states that refuse to submit plans.
A major manufacturer of the aldicarb, Rhone-Poulenc AG Co., said earlier this week it was stopping the sale of the pesticide for use on potatoes until it can determine why residue levels were unusually high.
While there are no known long-term effects from aldicarb, short-term exposure can inhibit nerve impulses and cause stomach aches, nausea, dizziness, disorientation and possibly death.
In humans, aldicarb can interfere with the transmission of nerve impulses.
When their potato-farming neighbors panicked at a recent government report questioning the safety of aldicarb, a widely used insecticide, the Ihlers weren't surprised.
Symptoms of ingestion of aldicarb include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea within one hour of eating, Lowell said.
But the report said the risks "exceed the benefits when aldicarb is used on bananas and potatoes."
More than 1,000 people were reported poisoned in 1985 in seven western states and Canada from California watermelons contaminated with aldicarb.
In the U.S., he said, the company won't sell aldicarb for use on potatoes throughout this planting season and possibly throughout next year's as research into the residue levels continues.
The cucumbers, contaminated with aldicarb, were distributed by wholesalers to grocers in those two states and possibly northern California and Idaho, said Roger Lowell, district director for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Seattle.
In ground water, aldicarb poses the greatest risk to infants, even at levels currently approved by the EPA.