EPA Pesticide Program Update
from EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs 10/05/01
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides
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IN THIS UPDATE:
1) FEDERAL COURT RATIFIES FQPA CONSENT
DECREE AND SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
2) CHLORPYRIFOS PRODUCT CANCELLATIONS
ANNOUNCED
3) ATRAZINE ENVIRONMENTAL RISK
ASSESSMENT AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT
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1) FEDERAL COURT RATIFIES FQPA CONSENT
DECREE AND SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
On September 25, the U.S. Federal District Court for the
Northern District of California approved the Consent
Decree that resolves lawsuits brought against the Environ-
mental Protection Agency by the Natural Resources Defense
Council (NRDC), the United Farmworkers of America, the
AFL-CIO, and other farmworker/environmental groups with
respect to pesticide tolerance reassessment and pesticide
reregistration. The Court also dismissed the portion of
NRDC's lawsuit concerning EPA's endocrine screening
program based on a Settlement Agreement between EPA
and NRDC and its co-plaintiffs.
The Consent Decree establishes a series of deadlines for
Agency action relating to the reassessment of pesticide
tolerances and the reregistration of older pesticides. The
Settlement Agreement, among other things, sets a series
of target "best efforts" dates by which EPA agrees to
complete validation of, and thereafter, start requiring,
certain scientific screens and tests in its program to screen
and test chemicals for endocrine disrupting effects.
EPA first filed a proposed Consent Decree and a Settlement
Agreement in January 2001 in response to a lawsuit brought
against the Agency by the Natural Resources Defense
Council (NRDC) and other groups representing farmworker
and environmental interests who challenged the Agency's
allegedly inadequate regulation of pesticides. On March 19,
the Agency filed an amended Consent Decree to address
issues raised by representatives of the pesticide industry
and farming community, who had intervened in the suit.
The September 25 decision completes the Federal District
Court's review of the Consent Decree and Settlement
Agreement. A more detailed summary of the Consent
Decree and the Settlement Agreement is posted on EPA's
Web site at:
www.epa.gov/oppfead1/cb/csb_page/updates/nrdc-comt.htm
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2) CHLORPYRIFOS PRODUCT CANCELLATIONS
ANNOUNCED
EPA has issued an order deleting uses and canceling
products containing the insecticide chlorpyrifos. This order
follows up on EPA's June 27, 2001, proposal to cancel or
modify registrations for 94 products containing the
pesticide chlorpyrifos. Companies holding end-use
registrations for pesticide products containing chlorpyrifos
requested that EPA cancel or modify their registrations to
meet the terms of the June 2000 agreement between EPA
and the registrants to reduce risks associated with the use of
chlorpyrifos. This order covers 76 products that are
canceled and 18 products for which labels are modified to
delete uses affected by the agreement. The agreement
requires deletion of the following uses:
-- all termite control uses (these will be phased out,
and the concentration of chlorpyrifos in the products will be
limited during the phase-out);
-- all residential uses (except for ant and roach baits in
child resistant packaging (CRP) and fire ant mound
drenches for public health purposes by licensed applicators
and mosquito control for public health purposes by public
health agencies);
-- all indoor non-residential uses (except ship holds,
industrial plants, manufacturing plants, food processing
plants, containerized baits in CRP, and processed wood
products treated during the manufacturing process at the
manufacturing site or at the mill);
-- all outdoor nonresidential sites (except golf courses,
road medians, industrial plant sites, fence posts, utility
poles, railroad ties, landscape timbers, logs, pallets, wooden
containers, poles, posts, processed wood products, manhole
covers, and underground utility cable and conduits; and
-- fire ant mound drenches for public health purposes
by licensed applicators and mosquito control for public
health purposes by public health agencies).
The Federal Register notice includes information about sale
and use of existing stocks. Most sales by registrants are
unlawful as of the date of this notice. The last date for
retail sales of products included in this notice bearing
instructions for the prohibited uses is December 31, 2001.
Sales of preconstructon termite use products (with reduced
concentration of chlorpyrifos) will end December 31, 2005,
unless EPA issues a written determination that the use may
continue. Except for manufacturing-use and
preconstruction termite-use products, existing stocks of
products listed in this notice may be used until they are
exhausted, in accordance with existing labeling.
Information about the agreement to reduce risks associated
with use of chlorpyrifos can be found on EPA's Web site at
www.epa.gov/pesticides/announcement6800.htm/. The
Federal Register notice announcing these cancellations and
use deletions was published on September 12, 2001, and is
available at www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/.
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3) ATRAZINE ENVIRONMENTAL RISK
ASSESSMENT AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT
EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) has released the
preliminary ecological risk assessment for atrazine, a
pesticide undergoing reregistration and tolerance
reassessment. The atrazine risk assessment and related
documents are available at:
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/status.htm .
Concurrently, EPA's Office of Water (OW) released the
Draft Aquatic Life Criteria Document for Atrazine,
providing recommendations to States and Tribes for use in
establishing their water quality standards as regulations.
EPA invites comments on both documents during a 60-day
time period ending November 26, 2001, as announced in
two Federal Register notices published on September 26,
2001. These Federal Register notices are available on the
Agency's Web site at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr .
Atrazine is a herbicide used widely on major food crops as
well as non-crop areas across the U.S. In the environment,
atrazine is mobile and persistent, found in surface and
ground waters, and is widely detected in air and rainfall
samples. EPA's preliminary ecological risk assessment for
atrazine indicates that risks exceed levels of concern for
chronic effects on mammals, birds, fish, aquatic
invertebrates, and nontarget plants at maximum and in
some cases typical use rates. A refined risk assessment
focusing on the aquatic environment identified concerns for
adverse effects on freshwater and estuarine plants and their
communities, as well as indirect adverse effects on aquatic
invertebrate and fish populations at monitored atrazine
levels in surface waters.
OPP's environmental fate and effects risk assessment for
atrazine was developed as part of the Agency's process for
making reregistration eligibility decisions and tolerance
reassessments for pesticides, consistent with provisions of
FIFRA and FFDCA as amended by FQPA. By allowing
access and opportunity for comment on the risk
assessments, EPA is seeking to strengthen stakeholder
involvement and help ensure that our decisions are
transparent and based on the best available information.
Under the Agency's public participation process, EPA's
next steps will include developing a revised risk assessment
and risk reduction options for atrazine, considering
comments received on the recently released environmental
fate and effects risk assessment, and on a human health
effects risk assessment released for comment earlier this
year. The Agency will invite public comment on the
revised atrazine risk assessment and risk reduction options
when they are completed, in 2002.
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EPA distributes its Pesticide Program Updates to external
stakeholders and citizens who have expressed an interest
in O.P. activities and decisions. We have established
an electronic list serve for people who want to keep abreast of
pesticide issues and decisions. This update service is part
of EPA's continuing effort to improve public access to
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to our automatic mailing list, visit:
http://www.epa.gov/oppfead1/cb/csb_page/form/form.html/.
For general questions on pesticides and pesticide
poisoning prevention, contact the National Pesticide
Telecommunications Network (NPTN), toll-free, at:
1-800-858-7378, by e-mail at nptn@ace.orst.edu,
or by visiting its Web site at:
http://ace.orst.edu/info/nptn/.
For information about ongoing activities in the
Office of Pesticide Programs, visit our homepage
at: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/.
Or call or write us directly at:
Communication Services Branch
Office of Pesticide Programs (7506C)
US Environmental Protection Agency
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004-2403
703-305-5017