EPA Pesticide Program Update
from EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs 09/18/01
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides
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IN THIS UPDATE:
1) Technical Briefing Scheduled on Organophosphate
Pesticide Cumulative Exposure Assessment for Drinking
Water
2) EPA Releases Risk Assessment Documents for
Endosulfan
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1) TECHNICAL BRIEFING SCHEDULED ON
ORGANOPHOSPHATE PESTICIDE CUMULATIVE
EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT FOR DRINKING WATER
EPA has scheduled a technical briefing on the cumulative
exposure assessment for drinking water for October 3,
2001. This technical briefing is intended to further the
public discussion on the methods and data proposed for use
in the organophosphate pesticide cumulative exposure
assessment for drinking water. The briefing will update
stakeholders on the probabilistic method proposed for use
in the drinking water assessment, the methods for
estimating exposures to be used in the probabilistic
assessment, and the data required by those methods. The
Agency will provide preliminary data on usage and use
patterns for stakeholder review. The meeting will be held
from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the National Rural Electric
Cooperative Association (NRECA) Conference Center,
4301 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA (Ballston Metro
Station).
On October 4, EPA and USDA will host a meeting of the
Workgroup on Cumulative Risk Assessment/Public
Participation Process of the Committee to Advise on
Reassessment and Transition. This workgroup is
considering stakeholder involvement issues related to the
cumulative risk assessment and will meet to discuss issues
and questions regarding the technical briefing on drinking
water. The meeting will be held from 9:00 a.m. to noon at
the NRECA in Conference Room CC2, 4301 Wilson
Boulevard, Arlington, VA.
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2) EPA RELEASES RISK ASSESSMENT DOCUMENTS
FOR ENDOSULFAN
On September 13, 2001, EPA released human health and
ecological risk assessment documents for a pesticide
undergoing reregistration and tolerance reassessment:
endosulfan. EPA will accept comments on this risk
assessment until November 13, 2001. Endosulfan is an
insecticide/acaricide registered for a wide variety of food
crop uses and to treat shade trees, shrubs, nonbearing citrus
trees, nursery stock, Christmas tree plantations, woody
plants, peach trees (root dip only), and ornamental trees and
shrubs. All uses are agricultural and commercial; the
registrant has requested voluntary cancellation of all home
and residential uses.
The risk assessment documents and brief summaries are
available on EPA's Web site
( http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/endosulfan ).
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 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 the best available information. Next steps under
the interim process will involve additional consultation
with stakeholders and the development of risk management
as reflected in an endosulfan Reregistration Eligibility
Decision (RED). When the endosulfan RED is completed,
EPA will make it available for public comment.
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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 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