EPA Pesticide Program Updates: August 17, 2001

IN THIS UPDATE:

• Draft PRN Concerning Spray and Dust Drift Label Statements for Pesticide Products
• EPA Proposes Revisions in Regulations for Chemicals Not Requiring a Tolerance or an Exemption From a Tolerance

Draft PRN Concerning Spray and Dust Drift Label Statements for Pesticide Products

The PRN also describes OPP's policy on spray drift and proposed plans for implementing these statements on product labels. The purpose of the proposed new labeling guidance is to provide pesticide registrants, applicators, and other individuals responsible for pesticide applications with improved and more consistent product label statements for controlling pesticide drift to ensure protection of human health and the environment.

The PRN would not apply to certain types of pesticide products and uses which raise special considerations for appropriate labeling.

Further, the Agency does not intend for its new guidance to conflict with or supersede more stringent restrictions by states or tribes or which are currently on product labels. The draft PRN is available at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides. Comments on the proposed PRN are due 90 days from the publication date of the Federal Register notice.

EPA Proposes Revisions in Regulations for Chemicals Not Requiring a Tolerance or an Exemption From a Tolerance

Subpart E will contain a list of the pesticide chemicals for which the Agency has determined that neither a tolerance nor an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance is needed. Subpart E will list pesticide chemicals that are actually used in or on food crops, but that have been determined to not have a reasonable likelihood of producing residues in food.

Examples of such uses would be dyes used as seed treatments, or chemicals that qualify under the Threshold of Regulation Policy. The proposed rule also seeks to revoke tolerance exemptions for Rhodamine B as a dye for pesticide formulations applied to growing crops, to raw agricultural commodities after harvest, or to animals. EPA is proposing to establish in subpart E, the use of Rhodamine B as a dye for seed treatment only, since studies show no uptake of the dye.

Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA), the Agency regulates pesticide chemicals in food by establishing tolerances or exemptions from the requirement of a tolerance. A tolerance is the maximum permissible levels for pesticide residues allowed in or on commodities for human food and animal feed. Whenever a pesticide is registered for use on a food or feed crop, EPA must establish a tolerance or exemption from the requirement of a tolerance if the pesticide is used in a manner which has a reasonable likelihood of producing residues in food. Tolerances are enforced by the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

For more information on this proposed rule, read the Federal Register Notice on EPA's web site or visit the Federal Register web site.

EPA must receive comments by October 1, 2001, identified by docket number OPP-301026. The Federal Register notice includes information on how to submit comments.