EPA Pesticide Program Update from EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs 08/09/01
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides
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IN THIS UPDATE:
1) TECHNICAL BRIEFING PLANNED ON ORGANOPHOSPHATE CUMULATIVE RISK ASSESSMENT PROCESS
2) EPA RELEASES RISK ASSESSMENT FOR THIOPHANATE METHYL
3) BENOMYL CANCELLATION ORDER PUBLISHED
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1) TECHNICAL BRIEFING PLANNED ON ORGANOPHOSPHATE CUMULATIVE RISK ASSESSMENT
PROCESS
EPA will hold a technical briefing on August 22 to provide background information on the cumulative risk
assessment process for the organophosphate pesticides. It will focus on the hazard portion of the process, and
will include discussion of a paper EPA recently released: "Preliminary Cumulative Hazard and Dose-Response
Assessment for Organophosphorus Pesticides: Determination of Relative Potency and Points of Departure for
Cholinesterase Inhibition." (Hazard refers to the toxicity of the pesticide. Hazard and exposure must be
combined to portray risk.) EPA is presenting this paper to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act (FIFRA) Scientific Advisory Panel on September 5-6. The August 22 technical briefing is designed to
provide an explanation of this material geared toward a non-scientific audience.
The technical briefing on August 22 will be from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town, 1767
King Street, Alexandria, Virginia (across the street from the King Street Metro Stop). Please see EPA's web page
for details and a map- http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/cumulative/meetings.htm . The paper is available at
http://www.epa.gov/scipoly/sap/index.htm#september .
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2) EPA RELEASES RISK ASSESSMENT FOR THIOPHANATE METHYL
On August 8, 2001, EPA released risk assessment documents for a pesticide undergoing reregistration and tolerance reassessment: thiophanate-methyl. EPA will accept comments on this risk assessment until October 9, 2001. Thiophanate-methyl is a fungicide registered for use on a variety of agricultural food and feed crops.
There are also non-food/feed use sites such as golf courses, sod farms, greenhouses and nurseries.
Thiophanate-methyl has registered residential uses on lawns, ornamental trees, shrubs, and plants.
The risk assessment documents and brief summaries are available on EPA's web site (
ttp://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/tm). The Federal Register notice announcing its availability is
available on EPA's web site: www.epa.gov/fedrgstr .
The risk assessment for this chemical was developed as part of the Agency's interim process for making
reregistration eligibility decisions and tolerance reassessments for pesticides, consistent with provisions
of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA). By allowing access and opportunity for comment on the risk assessment, EPA is seeking to strengthen stakeholder involvement and help ensure that our decisions under FQPA are transparent and based on thebest available information. Next steps under the interim process will involve additional consultation with stakeholders and the development of risk management as reflected in a thiophanate-methyl Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) this fall. When the thiophanate-methyl RED is completed, EPA will make it available for public comment.
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3) BENOMYL CANCELLATION ORDER PUBLISHED
On August 8, 2001, EPA published a final cancellation order, effective immediately, for the fungicide benomyl.
In April, Dupont, the registrant for benomyl, announced that it would no longer manufacture and distribute
benomyl throughout its worldwide markets.
The Agency received seven comments sent by growers, trade associations, and other interested parties in response to its May 23 Federal Register notice. The comment period on the notice of receipt of request to cancel ended on June 22, 2001. The August 8 notice describes these comments and EPA's response. The sale of benomyl by the registrants is not allowed as of August 8, 2001. Existing stocks in the channels of trade may continue to be sold until December 31, 2002. The Agency assumes that all end use products should be used up in 2003. The Federal Register notice is available on EPA's web site at www.epa.gov/fedrgstr .
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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 their website 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