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Chem-News June 1998 |
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The Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review and reassess all pesticide food tolerances over the next 10 years. The organophosphate group will be the first class of pesticide active ingredients scheduled for review with a completion target date of August 3, 1999. A review of the carbamate group and probable carcinogens will follow. See below and the March 1998 Chem-Newsletter (also accessible from the PMEP website at http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/.
As stated in the newsletter, it is projected that registrants and/or EPA will cancel the use of those pesticide active ingredients that pose a high risk to human health and/or the environment, as new tolerance risk criteria and aggregate and infant dietary risk standards have been established under FQPA. Potentially, this has a dramatic affect for states like New York producers that grow minor crops, as pesticide registrants will have to decide which registrations they will retain in lieu of the new risk criteria as well as decide which products will continue to provide economic profits for manufacturers. The loss of certain pesticide active ingredients at this time could mean that New York's agricultural producers may not have adequate or effective control measures for some of our minor crops or for some of our major cropping systems for that matter.
In order to comply with FQPA reassessment priorities and reregistration scheduling requirements, EPA has divided the pesticides with tolerances and exemptions subject to the reassessment schedule into three groups. Group 1 pesticides will be subject to reassessment first, followed by groups 2 and 3. While the actual reassessment of the tolerances and exemptions in these three groups may not correspond directly with the three FQPA reassessment deadlines of August 1999, August 2002, and August 2006, this grouping reflects the overall scheduling priorities for tolerance reassessment.
EPA has placed into Group 1 those tolerances and exemptions associated with the following types of pesticides, which based on the best available information to date appear to pose the greatest risk to the public health:
In making the determination as to which pesticides appear to pose the greatest risk to the public health, whenever possible EPA has taken into account exposure to infants, children, and other sensitive subpopulations.
Because EPA must, in addition to meeting the tolerance reassessment schedule, also complete their registration program by 2002, tolerance reassessments for those pesticides for which Registration Eligibility Documents (REDs) were substantially complete prior to FQPA's enactment are also included in Group 1, even though the tolerances for these pesticides may not be among those that appear to pose the greatest risk to the public health. For the sake of completeness and for tracking purposes, those food-use pesticides for which REDs were issued after August 3, 1996 are also listed in Group 1, even though EPA has completed their FQPA tolerance reassessments.
EPA has also placed in Group 1 pesticides for which tolerances and exemptions are in the process of being proposed for revocation. These tolerances and exemptions are included in the total 9,728 tolerances and exemptions. In some cases, revocations reduce theoretical risk in dietary assessments where tolerance-level residues are used. This year, EPA has begun to issue a number of proposed rules to revoke over 1,000 tolerances and exemptions: one notice proposes to revoke tolerances and exemptions associated with pesticides for which all registrations have been canceled; a second notice proposes to revoke tolerances for uses that have been deleted from pesticide registrations; a third notice proposes to revoke tolerances for uses canceled in order to reduce theoretical risks to levels below the reference dose; a fourth notice, already issued, proposes to revoke tolerances for uses no longer considered to be significant livestock feed items; and several other notices propose to revoke tolerances for individual pesticides.
[Pesticides that will be first to undergo review of tolerances by EPA, as required by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996]
| ORGANOPHOSPHATES | CARBAMATES | POTENTIAL CARCINOGENS (B1's AND B2's) |
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Abbreviations: AM = antimicrobial; I = insecticide; F = fungicide; IGR = insect growth regulator; H = herbicide; N = nematicide.
Dr. Allen Jennings, Director of USDA's Office of Pest Management Policy, has requested that the National Agricultural Pesticide Impact Assessment Program (NAPIAP) Regional Coordinators coordinate the development of a Commodity and Pest Management Profile (commonly called Crop Profile) for important commodities in their regions. Crop profiles are narratives, which discuss a crop in terms of its production, pest problems, pest control options, etc. USDA's Office of Pest Management Policy envisions using these crop profiles to identify important crop/pest/pest management concerns that may occur as an outcome of decisions (proposed or final) taken by EPA as a result of the tolerance reassessments required by the FQPA. The NAPIAP Regional Coordinators will work with the State Liaison Representative (SLR) in their state to develop the Crop Profiles (see below). Dr. Donald Rutz, Director of the Pesticide Management Education Program (PMEP), is the SLR for New York State at the present time; Dr. George Good will assume this responsibility as of August 1, 1998.
As a part of the SLR's responsibilities, each state is required to collect pesticide use information and maintain a database with specified fields of information. States have responded to this requirement as internal resources, state allocation funding and other sources of support allow. The SLRs are now being asked to assemble some of this information in the form of Commodity and Pest Management Profiles (more commonly referred to as Crop Profiles) and provide it to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). See Attachment 1 for a complete description of a Commodity and Pest Management Profile. PMEP has developed a computerized form (Chemical Control Information Sheet) for the Commodity and Pest Management Profile to assist in the collection of the information and for ease of computer database management (see Attachment 2).
PMEP Contribution
Utilizing the information collected from previous PIAP pesticide use surveys and commodity information collected from the National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS) surveys, PMEP will develop five crop profiles. PMEP will work with Cornell commodity specialists, Cornell Cooperative Extension agents and specialists, the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets and others to develop crop profiles for apples, carrots, grapes, pears, and snap beans. See Attachment 3.
Also, as part of our Pesticide Impact Assessment Program responsibilities, PMEP will assist in the computerization of Crop Profile information that is developed by others (see Attachment 3). Our intent is to provide a database of pesticide use information that can be accessible and useful for those needing this type of information and for responding to regulatory concerns/issues relative to pesticide use in New York State.
Proposals are invited for competitive grant awards under the Special Research Grants Program titled "Pest Management Alternatives Program: Addressing Food Quality Protection Act Issues for Fiscal Year 1998." This program addresses anticipated changes in pest management on food, feed, livestock, and ornamental commodities resulting from implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA), Pub. L. No. 104-170.
The goals of this program are to: (1) Develop commodity profiles that summarize production practices, pesticide use/usage data, and available pest management alternatives for pesticides considered a high priority for tolerance reassessment under FQPA; and (2) Develop and demonstrate alternatives and possible mitigation strategies to ensure that producers have reliable methods of managing pests. The amount available for support of this program in fiscal year (FY) 1998 is approximately $1,500,000. Proposals are due July 20, 1998. For more information, you can access the RFP from the CSREES IPM Web site (http://www.reeusda.gov/ipm), or by contacting the Cornell Research Office or PMEP.
Profiles must be completed within six months after receipt of funding. Priority will be given to proposals addressing one or more commodities that depend heavily on pesticides included on EPA's priority list; however, proposals addressing commodities not included in the list will be considered.
USDA and EPA have determined that production of the following commodities may depend heavily on the pesticides included on the priority list (Appendix I). The possible regulatory impacts of FQPA for these commodities are not known. To answer questions that may arise during FQPA implementation, Pest Management Profiles are critical for these commodities. Priority will be given to proposals that address one or more of the commodities on this list.
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FQPA instructs USDA and EPA to obtain pesticide use and usage data on the major and minor crops. Of particular importance at this time are use and usage data for the organophosphates, carbamates, and possible carcinogens. These classes of pesticides have been identified as top priority at EPA for the tolerance reassessment process. These same pesticides are also vital to the production of many of our crops. Because some of these uses may be canceled it is important to identify where we stand now, where we need to be in the future, and what research efforts are needed to get us there. In order to better understand where future research efforts should lead it is necessary first to identify areas of critical need (i.e. those crops that have few if any alternative control measures available). To help USDA and EPA obtain this type of information A Commodity and Pest Management Profiles are being requested. It is the intent that profiles provide the complete production story for a commodity and a look at current research activities directed at finding replacement strategies for the pesticides of concern. Crop profiles should include typical use information (not simply what pesticide labels state) and for ease of use should be presented in the following format:
These commodity profile forms have been developed with the preceding outline in mind. They should provide everything needed to comply with the commodity and pest management profile guidelines. There are three forms: a Commodity Information Sheet, a Pest Information Sheet, and a Chemical Control Information Sheet. One Commodity Information Sheet should be filled out for each commodity. The two other sheets are meant to be photocopied back to back. A Pest Information Sheet should be filled out for each pest (insect, disease, or weed) that affects the commodity. A Chemical Control Information Sheet should be filled out for each chemical control (insecticide, herbicide, or fungicide) that is commonly used to combat each pest.
The forms are in Adobe Acrobat format. You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, available from http://www.adobe.com/.
Note: The forms print on legal size (8.5 by 14 inch) paper.
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