Only 25 Days Until OPP Moves to its New Location! No database or email access for OPP staff April 7 ONLY

EPA's Pesticide Program will be moving to a new location during the first week of May 2006. Effective May 8, 2006, EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs' new location will be:

One Potomac Yard 2777 S. Crystal Drive Arlington, VA 22202

Please note that this is the physical address of the new building; see below for mailing address.

Latest Development: Submitting Public Comments to the Docket

From Friday, April 28, through Friday, May 5, 2006, the OPP Public Regulatory Docket Room will be closed and stakeholders will only be able to provide comments through the U.S. Mail or electronically through www.regulations.gov. The OPP Public Regulatory Docket staff will not be able to accept any hardcopy public comments during this time period. The Docket will re-open on Monday, May 8, 2006, and resume its normal business hours (8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m). The new location for the Docket Room will be S-4400 in the One Potomac Yard Building.

Other changes related to the move:

* from May 1 - 5, 2006, most staff will be unavailable at their assigned telephone numbers; however, they will have access to voicemail;

* from May 1 - 5, 2006, no hand-carried 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 from May 1 - 5, 2006, will be held until May 8, 2006;

* after the move, the mailing address (Office of Pesticide Programs (Division Mail Code), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 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"; and

* hand-carried or courier deliveries to the Document Processing Desk (7504P) will be accepted beginning on May 8, 2006, at Room S-4900, on the 4th floor of One Potomac Yard.

More information on the move will be sent out in Pesticide Program Updates over the next several weeks.

2) EPA Releases Risk Assessments for Organic Arsenic Herbicides; Seeks Risk Management Ideas --- EPA is evaluating the potential risks associated with registered uses of the organic arsenic herbicides MSMA, DSMA, CAMA, and cacodylic acid, and has identified few risks directly associated with use of these herbicides. However, the Agency is concerned about the potential transformation of products applied as organic arsenical herbicides to inorganic arsenic in plants, drinking water, and soil. The Agency seeks public comment by June 5, 2006, on its human health and environmental fate and effects risk assessments for the organic arsenic herbicides, as well as risk management ideas or proposals. Background information and questions to guide comments are provided in a "commenter's guide," available in the docket. Responses will be useful to the Agency in revising the risk assessments, if appropriate, and developing an informed, practical, and protective reregistration eligibility decision for the organic arsenicals.

The organic arsenic herbicides are used primarily on cotton and turf, including golf courses, home lawns, recreational areas such as school yards and athletic fields, and rights-of-way. Overall, use in the U.S. appears to be declining. Arsenic is common in the environment and occurs naturally in soil and in surface and groundwater.Arsenic does not degrade over time; it can only transform into other forms of arsenic -- for example, organic arsenic may transform to inorganic arsenic or vice versa --or be redistributed through runoff, leaching, erosion, volatilization, or plant uptake. State and federal agencies usually monitor for total arsenic in soil and water, so national data for organic arsenic are not available. EPA therefore used a health protective, stepwise approach in its risk assessment, calculating exposure to each of the organic arsenicals alone, as well as considering the potential exposure to inorganic arsenic as a transformation product. Information from the public to clarify the geographic extent of organic arsenical herbicide use, as well as arsenic's potential for buildup in soil, its contribution to water, and exposure to homeowners and to non-target species, would be useful to the Agency in further refining the organic arsenicals risk assessment.

EPA Pesticide Program's assessment of organic arsenical herbicides takes into account the possible contribution of these herbicides to vulnerable sources of drinking water. However, it should be noted that EPA's National Primary Drinking Water Standard for arsenic is based upon the risks of bladder cancer in humans exposed to inorganic arsenic, not organic arsenic. Therefore, the organic arsenical herbicide assessment does not affect or change EPA's drinking water standard for arsenic.

EPA's risk assessments, commenter's guide, and related documents are available in the organic arsenic herbicides docket #EPA-HQ-OPP-2006-0201 at http://www.regulations.gov. The Agency's April 5, 2006, Federal Register notice is available at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr. For additional information, see the Agency's cacodylic acid and MSMA, DSMA and CAMA reregistration Web pages at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/status.htm .

3) Import Tolerance Data Requirements Detailed in NAFTA Guidance --- In an April 5, 2006, Federal Register notice, EPA has announced the availability of detailed guidance on data requirements in the U.S. and Canada for establishing import tolerances, or maximum pesticide residue levels allowed in or on food or feed commodities imported from other countries. The guidance is consistent with the goals of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and does not change U.S. data requirements for obtaining import tolerances in this country. Import tolerances must meet the same food safety standards as other tolerances established in the U.S. This common approach to the establishment of import tolerances/Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) is expected to promote trade between North America and the rest of the world and maintain North American high standards for food safety. The common set of data requirements presented in the guidance document typically results in a harmonized data set, as well as a more efficient and cost effective review process for obtaining import tolerances in North America.

The NAFTA guidance document explains the product chemistry, residue chemistry, and toxicology data required to establish import tolerances/MRLs in the U.S. and Canada. Mexico is not participating in the project at this time. Petitioners must still submit separate import tolerance/MRL petitions to the U.S. and Canada, and must adhere to each country's specific formatting and other requirements. Canada and the U.S. encourage the concurrent submission of petitions so that joint review projects can be initiated. Joint review of petitions will help harmonize the setting of import tolerances in Canada and the U.S., promoting free trade within North America.

In developing this final guidance, EPA considered comments received on a proposed version of the NAFTA import tolerance guidance document, published in the Federal Register on April 16, 2003. This final guidance document completes the NAFTA project on import tolerances. EPA's Federal Register notices are available on the Agency's website at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr. The NAFTA import tolerance guidance document is available on EPA's NAFTA Technical Working Group website at http://www.epa.gov/oppfead1/international/naftatwg/, and a Q & A document on the Agency's NAFTA import tolerance guidance is available at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/naftaqa.htm. For additional information, see docket number OPP-2002-0281 at http://www.regulations.gov.