Wilfred Burr's Newest News Office of Pest Management Policy (OPMP), USDA April 24, 2003 Transferred to the web by NE PMC 5/01/03

CROP PROFILES

Newly posted at www.ipmcenters.org
FL – cucumbers (update)
FL - sweet corn
TN - snap beans
TN - sweet corn
TN - summer squash

PEST MANAGEMENT STRATEGIC PLANS (PMS PLANS)

Newly posted at www.ipmcenters.org
Lettuce – AZ, CA
Melons - CA
Lima beans – DE, MD, NJ
Sweet corn - Midwest

Recent PMS meetings:
Apple – New England
Caneberry – CA
Citrus - CA
Cotton – AR, LA, MS (scheduled for April 24-25)
Mint – IN, MI, WI
Potato – MI, MN, ND, WI
Tropical fruit – FL

Upcoming PMS meetings:
Apple – Mid-Atlantic (June 24)
Wine grapes – IA, IL, IN, AR (July 15-16)

CHEMICAL NEWS

Recent/Future SMART meetings at EPA: (SMART meetings are pre-risk assessment meetings with EPA, Registrants and OPMP. The registrants present use and usage information, summarize or comment on any out-standing studies they may be submitting to EPA, and occasionally discuss their plans for maintaining or voluntarily canceling current uses. It is a meeting for the registrants to present information to EPA before the risk assessment really gets started.)

Cypermethrin – March 25th

The meeting included both cypermethrin and zeta-cypermethrin. Representatives from the industry included FMC, Syngenta, United Phosphorous, and Valent. There are 13 registrants with 7 technical or MUP registrations and about 43 End Use registrations. Use sites include Indoor Non-Food/Feed areas, Domestic Indoor/Outdoor (non-commercial homeowner), Terrestrial (Outdoor) Non-Food, Greenhouse Non-food, Domestic Outdoor wood or wood structure protection, General Outdoor Insect control (non-food), Domestic Farm Animals (cattle and horses), and Terrestrial food (ag uses). Registrants support all current uses.
A major use of cypermethrin is termite control. Cockroaches are the major target for indoor uses.
When the QUA (Quantitative Use Assessment) becomes available from BEAD/EPA we will pass it on for your comments.
As mentioned this is the beginning of the risk assessment and nothing will be available for quite some time.

Pyrethrins, Piperonyl Butoxide (PBO) and MGK-264 – April 10th

As PBO and MGK-264 occur in so many pyrethrin products all 3 compounds are being assessed at the same time. Again, this is very early in the risk assessment process and OPMP does not expect to see any assessments for at least 8-12 months. We will send the QUA for BEAD/EPA as it becomes available.

About 150,000 pounds of the active ingredient are produced each year, Chrysanthemums are grown primarily in Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and Tasmania. According to the USGS Pesticide Usage Report there are about 1500 products containing pyrethrins. Of these over 900 contain PBO and over 400 contain MGK-264. Less than 10 percent of the total ai is used in agriculture, most of this occurring in California. Pyrethrins by themselves are organic certified products.

EPA’s concerns are with cancer. The registrants hope that recently submitted data will change this.

Carboxin (Vitavax) - a SMART meeting for carboxin was held on 3/27/03. The technical registrants, Gustafson and Crompton (formerly Uniroyal), plan to defend all registered uses. Carboxin is registered as a seed treatment fungicide on barley, beans, canola, corn, cotton, peanuts, oats, onions, rice, rye, safflower, soybeans, triticale, wheat, and ornamental bulbs. EPA estimated that the risk assessments for carboxin should be available in July of 2003 for error review by the registrants and USDA.

Amitraz – May 1st

Nitrapyrin - May 13th

Dimethipin - May 21st

Chloroneb (Terraneb) - The SMART meeting for this chemical is not expected until the Fall of 2003. Chloroneb is registered by Kincaid Enterprises as a seed treatment fungicide on beans, cotton, soybeans, and sugar beets, and as a turfgrass fungicide.

DCNA (dicloran or Botran) - The SMART meeting for this chemical is not expected until the summer of 2003. DCNA (registered by Gowan) is a foliar fungicide for use on apricots, beans, celery, cherries, cucumbers, endive, fennel, garlic, grapes, lettuce, nectarines, onions, peaches, plums, potatoes, prunes, rhubarb, shallots, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and certain forest and ornamental uses.

DCPA (Dacthal) – the preliminary risk assessment is out. Dacthal is one of the oldest herbicides still on the market. Not many uses are left (some turf uses, parsley, things like that). The major metabolite is persistent and is a known leacher.

Rodenticides -

There is a lot of use data at the Agency but there is also extreme prejudice on the part of staff in EFED. There are legal issues involved rising from the data quality act and there is opportunity to get some involvement from OMB. The RRTF and the new Rodenticide Users Coalition will now have the opportunity to more formally join forces.

OPMP has received many requests for extending the comment period and it now appears we are getting a sixty day extension. That gives us a bit more time to get comments together and set up the meeting.

PH3 - We are down to one issue and without getting into all the details it concerns the training and certification levels and supervision of the folks who aerate and open rail cars fumigated in transit when they arrive at the destination. It is expected that the Agency will call for revised labels from all registrants soon. Final label approval should occur this summer and six months will be allowed for the new labels to take effect in the trade. Products with the new label should enter the stream by the beginning of the fumigation season 2004.

Copper Hydroxide – A new formulation of Griffin's Copper Hydroxide Tenn?Cop 5E, a product used to control bacterial spot in peaches will undergo an expedited review at EPA. Rutgers University Extension had notified the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) that there was a shortage of copper hydroxide and that peaches in New Jersey were approaching the "pink stage". Peach growers needed to begin spraying to control bacterial spot within the next few weeks. Very few alternatives are available to control this disease in peaches.

Phosmet - A generic data call?In (DCI) to the registrants of the pesticide phosmet has been sent out. Registrants have 90 days from the date of receipt of the DCI to respond. The data being asked for includes biomonitoring studies of workers performing high exposure tasks, and another study investigating the feasibility of reducing exposure to post?application workers by having them wear gloves. Information on the economic benefits of phosmet and alternative pest management practices is also being asked for.

Napthaleneacetic Acid (NAA) this is one of the old plant growth regulators. It is used primarily to chemically thin apples and occasionally pears and to some degree to prevent early fruit drop in red delicious orchards. No one really thinks that there is going to be any problems here but you never know.

Imazalil – the tolerance reassessment eligibility decision (TRED) for imazalil is available for public comment. EPA announced its decision on tolerance reassessments for the fungicide imazalil. In its decision, EPA reassessed 32 existing tolerances for imazalil, revoking seven, adjusting 19, and maintaining the rest unchanged. Two new tolerances, for barley hay and wheat hay, will be proposed at 0.5 parts per million. Tolerances are the legal maximum pesticide residue limits on raw agricultural commodities.

Carbaryl -

On April 2, EPA released the revised human health and ecological effects
risk assessments for the carbamate pesticide carbaryl and announced a 60-day comment period closing June 2 during which the public may submit risk mitigation ideas and proposals. EPA plans to complete an Interim Reregistration Eligibility Decision (IRED) for carbaryl by June 30. To be most useful to the Agency in completing this risk management decision, comments should be submitted as early during the comment
period as possible. Comments should suggest measures to reduce risks of concern and/or focus on needed uses and associated benefits of carbaryl, including the timing of applications, target pests, available alternatives, and the cost and efficacy of alternatives.

Carbaryl is one of the most widely used insecticides in agriculture, professional turf management and ornamental production, as well as in residential pet, lawn, and garden markets. Carbaryl also is used as a mosquito adulticide. Washington State has a Special Local Needs registration to control burrowing shrimp in oyster beds.

EPA has concerns regarding residential and agricultural and other worker exposures to carbaryl. Around the home, the Agency is concerned about exposures of people using carbaryl lawn, garden, ornamental plant, and pet flea control products, as well as adults performing yard work and toddlers playing on treated lawns. Many occupational handler and post-application worker exposure scenarios present risks of concern, even assuming that workers use maximum personal protective equipment and clothing.

The carbaryl risk assessments and related documents explain these exposures of concern in detail. These documents are available from the pesticide docket or from EPA's website at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/carbaryl

Malathion - EPA has asked if APHIS has any data on malaoxon degradation in water stemming from the Boll Weevil Eradication Program. APHIS can provide f our years of data (hundreds of samples) showing no malaoxon formation in natural water bodies while occasionally finding malathion. The results of the Fruit Fly programs indicate malaoxon detection only after an oxidizing event such as passage through a water treatment plant or swimming pool. The half-lives were in the order of 3 days.

Formetanate HCL (Carzol) - OPMP has contacted the CRM and the registrant for this '04 RED. Dietary risk is expected to be the primary focus for this carbamate used mainly in the West and Northwest on deciduous trees, oranges and lemons. Gowan has purchased this chemical. PDP 2001 results do not reflect the most recent use patterns.

Methyl Bromide – As of yet no decisions have been made by the international team on the Critical Use Exemption submissions during round one. Plans are underway for the second opportunity for commodities to apply for CUEs.

OTHER STUFF

EPA has extended the comment period for the Draft Final Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment and the draft Supplemental Guidance for Assessing Cancer Susceptibility from Early-Life Exposure to Carcinogens. The availability of these documents was originally announced in the Federal Register on March 3, 2003 (68 FR 10012). The comment period was scheduled to close on May 1, 2003. Now, EPA must receive comments by Monday, June 2, 2003. The documents are available via the Internet from http://www.epa.gov/ncea/raf/cancer2003.htm. Instructions for submitting comments are provided at this Web page and in the March 3, 2003 Federal Register notice. The docket number for these documents is OAR-2003-0008.

Biotech - A comprehensive article that lists every biotech agricultural product
approved in Canada, Mexico and the United States is now available.
A total of 73 biotech products have received commercial approval so farmers can grow them in these three countries: 56 in the United States, 54 in Canada and three in Mexico. The vast majority are different varieties of four major crops: soybeans, cotton, corn and canola. Read on at http://www.whybiotech.com/index.asp?id=2837

AG RE-ENTRY TASK FORCE (ARTF) - EPA informally stated that EPA, CDPR and Canada should make a decision on how the submitted ARTF data will be used by June '03. During the interim, they will use the studies only if they are specific for the crop being considered (an apple study for apples). The “genericness” of the data is still under discussion as well as the scheme for differentiating between waxy, smooth, and hairy leaves.
ARTF has been working very closely with EPA, CDPR, and PMRA in developing this database. ARTF's general plan for conducting an exposure study was approved by EPA, PMRA, and CDPR. ARTF data started to be used in government risk assessments when the database was put on-line in August 2000.
The research for this database began with the formation of ARTF in 1995.
The last of ARTF's exposure data were submitted prior to the November, 2001
deadline for compliance with EPA's Data Call-In.

Pesticide Labeling for Seeds - EPA inquired on the USDA requirements
for the labels of pesticide-treated seeds. They would like language to urge the grower to make sure all seeds are covered with the soil to prevent birds from eating the treated seeds. However, USDA/AMS replied that the “U.S. Seed Act” requires specific language. Rulemaking would be needed to expand labeling requirements.

Hops - The Washington Hops Commission inquired on the status of
triazoles. Their main concern was the establishment of permanent tolerances
for expiring time limited tolerances and the retention of import tolerances
for myclobutanil and tebuconazole.

League of Wilderness Defenders v. Forsgren - the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has denied the Forest Service's request for a rehearing on this case. This is the case that resulted in a court order that required the Forest Service to obtain a NPDES permit before aerially applying an insecticide to control the Douglas Fir Tussock Moth. The Forest Service is currently in the process of obtaining a NPDES permit for a Gypsy Moth eradication project in Oregon.

What are the next steps? Legally speaking, the US Supreme Court. Other options are
legislative and regulatory decisions.

Centers for Pest Management are sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture

This page developed and managed by Jim VanKirk, NE PMC Coordinator