IN THIS EPA UPDATE
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Date:
Wednesday, October 16, 2002 9:22 AM
From:
Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide
Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
IN THIS EPA UPDATE:
1) SEMINAR PLANNED ON AGRICULTURAL WORKER RISK ASSESSMENT
2) Availability of Interim Risk Management Decision Document for Organophosphate Methamifophos
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1) SEMINAR PLANNED ON AGRICULTURAL WORKER RISK ASSESSMENT
On October 29-30, EPA will hold a public seminar on the decision process used by the Agency in assessing risks to agricultural workers. Topics on the agenda include: overview of the worker risk assessment process, agricultural handler risk assessment for selected crop/handler scenarios, post application risk assessment for selected crop/post application worker scenarios, and presentations relating to post- exposure evaluation.
Stakeholders from two of EPA's Federal advisory committees, the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC) and the Committee to Advise on Reassessment and Transition (CARAT), have expressed interest in better understanding the process followed by the Office of Pesticide Programs when developing agricultural worker risk assessments. EPA is planning two seminars to address these issues. This first seminar will focus on the inputs, decisions, calculations and end results of the worker risk assessment process for agricultural handlers and post applicators. Presentations will include information about occupational incident data bases and post exposure evaluations. There will also be presentations by the Task Forces for Agricultural Handlers Exposure and Agricultural Reentry.
Opportunity will be provided for questions and comments by the public. Any person who wishes to file a written statement may do so before or after the meeting. The docket number associated with this meeting is OPP-2002-0292.
The seminar will be held on Tuesday, October 29, 2002 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and on Wednesday, October 30, 2002 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Georgetown University Conference Center, 3800 Reservoir Road, Washington, DC, in the Leavey Center (Entrance #1 to the Georgetown University Medical Center), Salons C-F-H. The telephone number at the center is 202/687-3200.
EPA will post the agenda for the seminar on its Web site at www.epa.gov/pesticides. In addition, a Federal Register notice announcing the meeting will be published shortly.
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2) Availability of Interim Risk Management Decision Document for Organophosphate Methamidophos
On October 11, 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register a notice announcing the availability of the Interim Reregistration Eligibility Decision (IRED) document and technical support documents for the organophosphate (OP) pesticide, methamidophos. These documents have been developed using a public participation process designed by EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to involve the public in the reassessment of pesticide tolerances under the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) and the reregistration of individual OPs under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
EPA has determined that methamidophos is eligible for reregistration, pending a full reassessment of the cumulative risk from all OP pesticides, and provided that all the conditions identified in the IRED document are satisfied, including implementation of risk mitigation measures. The IRED document describes, in detail, what is necessary for implementing the risk mitigation measures, such as submission of label amendments for end-use products and submission of any required data. Mitigation measures for methamidophos include a phase out of methamidophos use on cotton by 2007. Should a registrant fail to implement any of the risk mitigation identified in the IRED document, the Agency may take regulatory action to address risk concerns from the use of methamidophos.
Additional information on methamidophos is available on EPA’s website at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/op/status.htm. The Federal Register notice is available from EPA's website at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr
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