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EPA Pesticide Program Updates: October 5, 2001Pesticide Program Update from EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs, October 5, 2001 IN THIS UPDATE:
Federal Court Ratifies FQPA Consent Decree and Settlement AgreementOn September 25, the U.S. Federal District Court for the Northern District of California approved the Consent Decree that resolves lawsuits brought against the Environmental 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.Chlorpyrifos Product Cancellations AnnouncedEPA 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:
Atrazine Environmental Risk Assessment Available for CommentEPA'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 on the Web.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. 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. Note: 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. For information about ongoing activities in the Office of Pesticide Programs, visit OPPs home page. Or call or write OPP 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 |
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 Western Integrated Pest Management Center Pest Management Centers are sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture, Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service |
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