1)EPA Publishes Cancellation Order on Azinphos-methyl Group 2 Uses
2)EPA Releases Cumulative Assessment on a Group of Closely Related Herbicides
3)EPA's Pesticide Program is Moving in May 2006; Staff Will Be Electronically Unavailable April 7
1)EPA Publishes Cancellation Order on Azinphos-methyl Group 2 Uses --- EPA issued an order in the Federal Register on March 29, 2006, amending registrations of azinphos methyl (AZM) products to terminate the "Group 2" uses, which include caneberries, cotton, cranberries, peaches/nectarines, potatoes, and Southern pine seed orchards. This order follows up on an August 2005 notice of receipt of requests from the registrants to voluntarily cancel the Group 2 uses. Under the existing stocks provisions, distribution or sale of AZM products for these uses is allowed until March 31, 2006, and use of these products is allowed until September 30, 2006.
During the public comment period, EPA received two comments in response to the August 17, 2005, Federal Register notice announcing the Agency's receipt of requests to terminate the Group 2 uses of AZM. These comments were reviewed and taken into consideration in developing the decision to proceed with this cancellation order. A response was sent to each commentor and placed in the public docket.
This order canceling certain AZM uses is the result of EPA's October 2001 AZM Interim Reregistration Eligibility Decision (IRED) and a May 2002 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Agency and the registrants of AZM pesticide products. The MOA implemented the provisions of the IRED by dividing the universe of AZM uses into three groups. Group 1 contained 23 crops with little use that were deleted from product labels immediately. Group 2 consists of the seven uses that are the subject of this order; these uses will be phased out in September 2006. Group 3 is comprised of the only 10 remaining uses of AZM, which have time-limited registrations that are currently being re-evaluated. The current order implements EPA's decision on the Group 2 uses of AZM.
EPA's March 29, 2006, Federal Register notice announcing the termination of the AZM Group 2 uses is available on the Agency's website at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr. Additional information regarding AZM is available in docket number EPA-HQ-OPP-2005-0061, available at http://www.regulations.gov, and on EPA's website at http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/op/azm.htm . For more information, contact Diane Isbell at 703-308-8154 or isbell.diane@epa.gov.
2)EPA Releases Cumulative Assessment on a Group of Closely Related Herbicides ---- The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that the cumulative risk associated with chloroacetanilide pesticides (acetochlor and alachlor) are below the Agency's level of concern. The chloroacetanilides group also includes butachlor, which was not incorporated into the cumulative assessment because there are no U.S. registrations or established tolerances. The chloroacetanilides share a common mechanism of toxicity (they cause a common toxic effect by the same sequence of major biochemical events) due to their ability to cause nasal tumors. EPA is inviting public comment until May 30, 2006, on its Choloracetanilide Cumulative Risk Assessment, issued on March 29, 2006. The chloroacetanilide cumulative assessment is available at http://www.regulations.gov in docket #EPA-HQ-OPP-2006-0202, and also will be available on the EPA's Assessing Pesticide Cumulative Risk Web page at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/cumulative/index.htm.
EPA also has evaluated the dietary (food and drinking water) human health risks associated with all currently registered uses of the herbicide acetochlor. The Agency has determined that there is a reasonable certainty that no harm will result from exposures to the pesticide from food and non-occupational sources, including drinking water, residential uses and other non-occupational sources of pesticide exposure for which there is reliable information. EPA reassessed 12 tolerances (legal limits for pesticide residues in food) established for residues of acetochlor in/on raw agricultural commodities and they all met federal safety standards. The Agency reassessed the existing tolerances for acetochlor on the following commodities: corn forage, stover, and grain and the rotational crops, sorghum forage, stover, and grain; soybean forage, hay, and grain; and wheat forage, straw, and grain. Under federal law, acetochlor is not subject to reregistration -- EPA's comprehensive ! reevaluation and re-licensing process -- because it was initially registered as a pesticide active ingredient after November 1984, but its tolerances must be reassessed. The Agency's March 29, 2006, Federal Register Notice announcing its Report on Food Quality Protection Act Tolerance Reassessment Progress and Risk Management Decision (TRED) for Acetochlor is available on the Agency's Web site at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr. The Actochlor TRED is available at http://www.regulations.gov in docket #EPA-HQ-OPP-2005-0227, and will also be available at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/status.htm.
EPA's Pesticide Program is Moving in May 2006; Staff Will Be Electronically Unavailable April 7
EPA's Pesticide Program will be moving to a new location the first week of May 2006.
Due to preparations for the upcoming move, Office of Pesticide Program (OPP) staff will not have access to Agency computer databases or email systems on April 7, 2006. OPP's computer servers will be up and running from the new building on April 8. If you need to contact Pesticide Program personnel on April 7, you can find staff telephone numbers through EPA's online directory at http://cfpub.epa.gov/locator/index.cfm.
Effective May 8, 2006, EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs' new location will be:
One Potomac Yard 2777 S. Crystal Drive Arlington, VA 22202
From May 1 - 5, 2006, staff will be unavailable at their assigned telephone numbers, and no personal or courier deliveries will be accepted at either our current location (Crystal Mall 2, Arlington, VA) or the new location.
Mail delivered by U.S. Postal Service will be held until May 8, 2006. The mailing address (Office of Pesticide Programs (Division Mail Code) Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20460) and mail codes will remain the same, except that the "C" in our current mail codes will change to a "P." Personal or courier deliveries to the Document Processing Desk (7504P) will be accepted beginning on May 8, 2006, at Room S4900, One Potomac Yard.
More information on the move will be sent out in Pesticide Program Updates over the next several weeks.