Bowing to public pressure, the Department of Ecology and a growers association have agreed to cancel a recently issued permit for the use of a controversial pesticide to treat oyster beds, the DOE said Sunday.

The permit to use imidacloprid, a neurotoxic pesticide, in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor, two bays that account for a quarter of the commercial oysters produced in the U.S., prompted a deluge of grief from environmentalists, restaurateurs and the public.

The backlash led Taylor Shellfish, Washington's largest shellfish producer and a major backer of using the pesticide, to announce Friday it was abandoning its plan to use the toxin to combat burrowing shrimp, which have been wreaking havoc on local oyster beds.

"One of our agency's goals is to reduce toxics in our environment," Ecology Director Maia Bellon said in a news release Sunday.

"We've heard loud and clear from people across Washington that this permit didn't meet their expectations, and we respect the growers' response."

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